Effects of mescaline and amphetamine on simultaneous visual discrimination in two inbred strains of mice.
The effects of mescaline and amphetamine were investigated in BALB/cJ (BALB) and C57BL/6J (C57) mice using the five-choice Yerkes--Thompson Bryant--Bovet-Nitti apparatus for patterns discrimination. Two sets of experiments were carried out. In the first set, pretrial administration of mescaline (5, 10, and 20 mg/kg) was followed by performance improvements in the C57 mice, while performances of the BALB strain were impaired by the treatment, as compared with those of the saline-injected (4 ml/kg) controls. The pretrial administration of amphetamine (0.1, 0.25, and 0.5 mg/kg) improved performances of both strains. In a second set of experiments, the same effects as in the pretrial experiments were observed in both strains following administration of mescaline (20 mg/kg) and amphetamine (0.5 mg/kg) immediately after each experimental session. No effect was evident when the drugs were injected 2 h after training, suggesting that effects of the pretrial treatments were due to influences of mescaline and amphetamine on the consolidation processes of the two strains of mice tested.
D000818:Animals; D003913:Dextroamphetamine / Q000494:pharmacology*; D004193:Discrimination Learning / Q000187:drug effects; D004192:Discrimination, Psychological / Q000187:drug effects*; D008297:Male; D008635:Mescaline / Q000494:pharmacology*; D051379:Mice; D008807:Mice, Inbred BALB C; D008810:Mice, Inbred C57BL; D013045:Species Specificity; D014796:Visual Perception / Q000187:drug effects*
D008635:Mescaline; D003913:Dextroamphetamine