Abstract
A comparison of the behavioral pharmacology of DOM and amphetamine in rats indicated that lower doses (0.10–1.0 mg/kg) of the two agents had similar effects on schedule-controlled food-reinforced and shock-avoidance behavior. Similarities were also noted in their effects on horizontally directed motor activity when testing was preceded by a period of acclimation. However, most doses of DOM tended to decrease unacclimated motor activity, while amphetamine increased this behavior.
Neuropharmacological antagonism studies indicated that brain catecholamines (CA) and serotonin (5-HT) are involved in the behavioral effects of both DOM and amphetamine. Cinanserin, a 5-HT receptor blocker, attenuated the behavioral disruptive effects of both agents on food-reinforced responding. Cinanserin attenuated the effects of all doses of DOM and those of higher doses of amphetamine on shock avoidance. When given prior to lower doses of amphetamine, there was a greater behavioral stimulation than when amphetamine was given alone. Prior depletion of brain CA with α-methyltyrosine (α-MT) did not affect DOM induced disruption of food-reinforced responding, while α-MT attenuated the behavioral effects of all doses of DOM and amphetamine on shock avoidance. These data suggest that DOM and amphetamine share a similar component in their mechanism of action which depends on the availability of a releasable pool of brain CA.
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Supported in part by Grants NS-10323 from NINDS and MH-22093 from NIMH. Some of the data have been reported in abstract form elsewhere (Federation Proceedings 32, 818, 1973; The Pharmacologist 16, 205, 1974) and a portion of this work is from a thesis submitted to the Faculty of Michigan State University by W. J. M. in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Ph. D. degree in Pharmacology.
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Tilson, H.A., Baker, T.G., Chamberlain, J.H. et al. Behavioral and neuropharmacological analysis of amphetamine and 2,5-dimethoxy-4-methylamphetamine in rats. Psychopharmacologia 44, 229–239 (1975). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00428899
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00428899