Résumé
Part of the ergogenic effects of ?2-agonists are believed to be due to their stimulating psychotropic effectsince? 2- adrenergic receptors avec ubiquitous. The purpose of the present study was to analyze thepsychological effects of Terbutaline, when this ?2-agonist was administered orally (8 mg) to athletes. Sevenhealthy males voluntarily participated in two sessions corresponding to two experimental conditions: ingestionof Terbutaline vs. ingestion of its placebo. Terbutaline or placebo was ingested 3 hr before performing anexercise on a cycloergometer until exhaustion at an intensity corresponding to 50% between the ventilatorythreshold and maximal oxygen uptake intensities.Right after the test,participants completed Russel,Weiss,andMendelsohn’s (1989) Affect Grid which measures affect along the dimensions of pleasure-displeasure andarousal-sleepiness. The ANOVAs showed a significant effect (p < .05) only for the arousal-sleepinessdimension.The ingestion of Terbutaline entailed a lower level of post-effort arousal than did the ingestion ofthe placebo. This unexpected tranquillizing effect may be interpreted as a negative secondary effect ofTerbutaline which was administered in supra-therapeutic doses in the present study. Future research isneeded to examine the psychological effects of Terbutaline at therapeutic doses.