Effects of ethanol and nitrous oxide, alone and in combination, on mood, psychomotor performance and pain reports in healthy volunteers.
Drug and alcohol dependence October 1, 1998 J P Zacny, V M Camarillo, P Sadeghi et al.
Recreational users sometimes combine ethanol and nitrous oxide (N2O), but their combined subjective effects were unstudied. In 11 volunteers, ethanol (0, 0.25, or 0.5 g/kg) was consumed, followed 15 minutes later by inhaling 30% N2O or placebo oxygen for 35 minutes. Thirty minutes into inhalation, subjects immersed a forearm in icy water for 3 minutes. Ethanol increased ratings of feeling drug effect and drunkenness. N2O altered mood, impaired cognitive and psychomotor performance, and reduced pain reports. Ethanol potentiated some N2O effects, and the combination produced effects neither drug alone did, but ethanol did not enhance N2O's analgesic effects. The data did not convincingly show the combination had greater abuse liability than N2O alone at the tested doses.