Pentobarbital 365(so-called good cholesterol) and triglycerides (associated with heart attack and
stroke) seem unaffected.
In a monkey experiment pentobarbital interfered with time perception, abil-
ity to learn, short-term memory, attention span, and interest in tasks. The
substance impeded task performances in a human experiment, with perfor-
mance getting worse as the amount of thinking necessary for a chore in-
creased. Such a drug is unlikely to be welcome in the workplace. Although
children using the substance apparently have trouble with language skills, a
study found language development to be normal two years after the medi-
cation ceased.
Abuse factors.In a test, alcohol drinkers who were not alcoholics found
pentobarbital less appealing than a placebo and experienced no euphoria from
pentobarbital, a finding consistent with other studies of persons who do not
abuse drugs. When given choices of assorted substances, monkeys chose pen-
tobarbital less often than water, which indicates the compound has low ad-
dictive potential. In contrast, drug abusers participating in an experiment
found effects of pentobarbital anddiazepamto be similar. Those two drugs
thus had comparable appeal even though scientists running the experiment
found pentobarbital possessing only 10% of diazepam’s strength. A study test-
ing various effects on former drug addicts found pentobarbital to be 15 times
stronger thanmeprobamate, butmorphineacted 6 times stronger than pen-
tobarbital. Cross-tolerance amongchlordiazepoxide, pentobarbital, and alco-
hol has been observed in rats. A study of sedative drug abusers found alcohol
and pentobarbital to deliver similar effects, with pentobarbital possibly having
more appeal. A monkey experiment indicates that alcohol increases the at-
tractiveness of pentobarbital. Dependence can develop, and in humans the
pentobarbital withdrawal syndrome can duplicate the delirium tremens of
alcohol withdrawal. A mice study found that tolerance to pentobarbital de-
veloped more rapidly if assorted drugs of abuse were also being administered
(morphine, amphetamine, alcohol, orcocaine).
Drug interactions.A case report notes that pentobarbital can almost double
the speed with which theophylline (commonly used to treat asthma and other
breathing difficulties) disappears from the bloodstream, requiring changes in
normal theophylline dosage. In a mice experiment alcohol boosted pentobar-
bital’s potency. A human study found that chronic alcohol ingestion reduces
the effective length of a pentobarbital dose. Grapefruit juice extends the
amount of sleep produced by pentobarbital in rats, and in mice the drug
inhibitscaffeineeffects. At one time researchers suspected that taking pen-
tobarbital along withMDMAwould reduce organic brain damage caused by
MDMA, but rat experiments indicate that any apparent benefit comes simply
from the lower body temperature produced by pentobarbital. Although co-
caine is a stimulant, in a rat experiment it increased the sleep-inducing quality
of pentobarbital.
Cancer.In animal experimentation pentobarbital has caused cancer. In hu-
mans long-term usage is associated with cancer of the ovaries and bronchi,
but that finding is weakened by the patients also smoking cigarettes.
Pregnancy.A large survey of pregnancy outcomes found that pentobarbital