Reserpine in Huntington's chorea

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Abstract
Treatment with reserpine and amphetamine was given to 10 patients with Huntington''s chorea. The severity of chorea was reduced in all, but only 3 patients were considered benefited; 3 more suffered serious undesirable effects with doses required to suppress chorea. Reserpine is of value in Huntington''s chorea only when the movements are dangerously violent or when they prevent independent ambulation. The neuropharmacology of reserpine and the physiologic basis of chorea are both incompletely understood. Attention is called to the imperceptible blending of chorea and "voluntary" motor activity in this disease and to the absence of objective criteria for distinguishing between voluntary and involuntary movements. Because of the apparent simultaneous decrease of chorea and psychomotility and because of the inability to distinguish between them, it is suggested that Huntington s chorea is a distorted form of psychomotility. This concept of chorea is offered as an alternative to the assumption that, in individuals with this disease, all motor activity can be separated into 2 distinct categories, voluntary and involuntary.