Neuropharmacological investigations in the stiff-man syndrome

In a patient with the stiff-man syndrome, abnormal exteroceptive reflexes in hand and arm muscles were used as a tool for investigating the effects of various centrally acting adrenergic drugs by means of acute testing. Clonidine, tizanidine and methamphetamine induced reflex suppression whereas reserpine had a biphasic effect: transient reflex suppression and delayed reflex enhancement. The drug actions on the reflexes paralleled to some degree those on the muscle stiffness. It is concluded that alpha-adrenergic stimulation leads to reflex suppression and muscular relaxation, whereas alpha-adrenergic blockade has the opposite effect. Correspondingly, long-term oral treatment with the alpha-stimulator, tizanidine, proved successful. The hypothesis is put forward that a noradrenergic system which exerts a net inhibitory influence on muscle tone and on exteroceptive reflexes plays an important role in the pathogenesis of the stiff-man syndrome.