Author: Glossary
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Lunesta
Brand name for the nonbenzodiazepine sedative-hypnotic drug eszopiclone.
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Lumbar puncture
The insertion of a needle between two lumbar vertebrae and through the meningeal wall to obtain cerebrospinal fluid for diagnostic purposes and to provide anesthesia and paralysis of the lower extremities. A surgical procedure to withdraw spinal fluid for analysis or the injection of an anesthetic solution. A procedure for obtaining a sample of cerebrospinal…
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Ludiomil
Brand name (now discontinued) for the tetracyclic antidepressant drug maprotiline. A commercial preparation of maprotiline.
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Lysergic acid diethylamide
A potent hallucinogen that produces psychotic symptoms and behavior such as hallucinations, illusions, body and time-space distortions, and, less commonly, intense panic or mystical experiences. A semisynthetic hallucinogen derived from the fungus, ergot. A powerful hallucinogenic drug which can cause psychosis. A psychedelic drug that is also a hallucinogen. It has been used to aid…
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Loxitane
Brand name (now discontinued) for the conventional antipsychotic drug loxapine. A commercial preparation of loxapine.
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Loxapine
A conventional antipsychotic medication (a dibenzoxazepine) used in the treatment of schizophrenia and other psychotic disorders. Now available only as generic but may still be known by the discontinued brand name loxitane. Tranquilizer used to treat schizophrenia. Adverse effects include low blood pressure, liver toxicity, and hypersensitivity reactions.
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Loss of control
Failure to restrain impulses, functions, or actions that ordinarily can be regulated consciously (e.g., aggressive actions, sexual impulses, bladder and bowel emptying). In relation to alcohol and other substances, loss of control refers to an impaired ability to modulate the amount or frequency of substance intake once any amount of the substance has been administered.…
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Lorazepam
A benzodiazepine anxiolytic medication used to treat various anxiety disorders and insomnia. Marketed under the brand name ativan. In a group of drugs known as benzodiazepines, this medication, which is also known as Ativan, is used to treat anxiety. A mild tranquilliser that people often receive before surgery to lessen anxiety. Benzodiazepine tranquilizer used to…
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Loosening of associations
A disturbance of thinking evident in a person’s speech in which the person shifts from one subject to another subject unrelated or minimally related to the first. Statements made by the person that lack a meaningful relationship may be juxtaposed, or speech may shift suddenly from one frame of reference to another. The person gives…
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Long-term potentiation (LTP)
The strengthening of connections between two nerve cells that lasts for an extended period of time. Studies of LTP are often carried out with slices of the hippocampus. LTP shares many features with long-term memory, making it an attractive candidate for a cellular mechanism of learning. The ability of the nervous system to retain information…