title: Triazolam as a discriminative stimulus in humans.
abstract: Seven healthy normal male and female volunteers (19-42 years) were trained to discriminate between the benzodiazepine triazolam (0.32 mg/70 kg; e.g. drug A) and placebo (e.g. drug B). During the first four daily sessions, drug A and drug B were administered orally in capsules 60 min prior to the session on alternate days and subjects were informed of the drug label at the time of drug administration. Subsequently, drug A and drug B were administered in a randomized-block fashion and subjects identified the drug code they thought they received. Subjects were informed of the drug code post-session. Once the criterion for discrimination was met (i.e. correct drug code identification on four consecutive sessions), the dose-effect curve for triazolam (0.1-0.75 mg/70 kg) was determined. The discrimination was acquired in all subjects; triazolam (0.32 mg/70 kg) and placebo produced approximately 85-95% correct responding. During the dose-effect curve determination, triazolam produced dose-related increases in triazolam-appropriate responding and self-reported sedation and drug strength. These results indicate that a triazolam-placebo discrimination can be acquired and that the triazolam discriminative stimulus effect is related to dose and to self-reported sedation.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, University of Vermont, Burlington 05401-1419.
authors.forename: A H
authors.initials: AH
authors.lastname: Oliveto
authors.forename: W K
authors.initials: WK
authors.lastname: Bickel
authors.forename: J R
authors.initials: JR
authors.lastname: Hughes
authors.forename: S T
authors.initials: ST
authors.lastname: Higgins
authors.forename: J W
authors.initials: JW
authors.lastname: Fenwick
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000339:Affect / Q000187:drug effects*; D001143:Arousal / Q000187:drug effects*; D004305:Dose-Response Relationship, Drug; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D011597:Psychomotor Performance / Q000187:drug effects*; D014229:Triazolam / Q000494:pharmacology*
chemical_list: D014229:Triazolam