Comparison of the effects of morphine, pentazocine, cyclazocine and amphetamine on intracranial self-stimulation in the rat.
Rats were trained to press a lever in order to stimulate their hypothalamus through a chronically implanted electrode. Dose-response curves were determined for the effects of morphine (0.3-10 mg/kg), pentazocine (1.0-30 mg/kg), cyclazocine (0.03-30 mg/kg) and d-amphetamine (0.1-3.0 mg/kg) on responding for intracranial stimulation, and then were redetermined in the presence of one or two doses of naloxone. The three analgesics produced only dose-related decreases in responding with the following relative potencies: cyclazocine greater than morphine greater than pentazocine. The well-documented rate-increasing effects of d-amphetamine on intracranial self-stimulation were observed at 0.3 and 1.0 mg/kg of the drug; decreases in responding at 3.0 mg/kg were associated with stereotyped behavior. Naloxone, which had no effect of its own on self-stimulation, increased the dose of the analgesics required to depress response rate in a manner consistent with a competitive antagonism. In contrast, response rates at all doses of d-amphetamine tested in the presence of naloxone. Thus, the interaction between naloxone and d-amphetamine is qualitatively different from the one between naloxone and the analgesics. This finding extends to intracranial self-stimulation the generality of a previous report of interactions between d-amphetamine and naloxone on behavior in the rat.
D000818:Animals; D003496:Cyclazocine / Q000494:pharmacology*; D003913:Dextroamphetamine / Q000037:antagonists & inhibitors / Q000494:pharmacology*; D004305:Dose-Response Relationship, Drug; D007031:Hypothalamus / Q000502:physiology; D008297:Male; D009020:Morphine / Q000494:pharmacology*; D009270:Naloxone / Q000494:pharmacology; D010423:Pentazocine / Q000494:pharmacology*; D051381:Rats; D012653:Self Stimulation / Q000187:drug effects*
D009270:Naloxone; D009020:Morphine; D003496:Cyclazocine; D010423:Pentazocine; D003913:Dextroamphetamine