- Source: Disuse supersensitivity
Disuse supersensitivity, also pharmacological disuse supersensitivity or pharmacological denervation supersensitivity, is the increased sensitivity by a postsynaptic cell because of decreased input by incoming axons, e.g., due to the exposure to an antagonist drug.
Jaffe and Sharpless pointed out that withdrawal syndrome after the cessation of a chronically used drug often shows an exaggerated response which is normally suppressed by the drug which produced a dependence. They suggested the model according to which a drug has both excitatory and depressive effects. Depressive effects generate hypersensitivity, but at the same time they mask it. When drug usage stops, hypersensitivity becomes unmasked.
See also
Dopamine supersensitivity psychosis