Naloxone, tardive dyskinesia, and endogenous beta-endorphin

The subjects were 13 psychiatric inpatients with tardive dyskinesia. Each subject participated in two sessions. Either naloxone (10 mg) or placebo was administered intravenously during each session. In a subset of subjects (n = 7), blood samples for beta-endorphin were drawn before and at 30 and 60 minutes after the injection. The Abnormal Involuntary Movement Scale was administered before and at 10, 20, 40, 60, 120, and 360 minutes after the injection. Double-blind procedures were maintained throughout the experiment. Neither naloxone nor placebo had any appreciable effect on the involuntary movements. Naloxone elicited a significant increase in the plasma beta-endorphin.