The effect of d‐amphetamine on choreiform movement disorders

Abstract

d-Amphetamine was given to patients with Huntington9s chorea, Sydenham9s chorea, and chorea associated with systemic lupus erythematosus, and to normal volunteers. d-Amphetamine worsened already existing chorea. The drug also elicited chorea in one patient but not in the normal individuals. Since the dopamine antagonist, haloperidol, blocked this effect, d-amphetamine may elicit chorea through a striatal dopaminergic mechanism. The data suggest that altered striatal dopamine sensitivity is a necessary factor in d-amphetamine-induced chorea and that a similar alteration in striatal dopaminergic sensitivity may be present in chronic amphetamine abusers with chorea and paranoid psychoses.