title: Tolerance to ethanol and cross-tolerance to pentobarbital and barbital in four rat strains.
abstract: Chronic ethanol treatment by gastric intubation conferred tolerance to ethanol-induced motor impairment and hypnosis in four different rat strains: Fischer 344, Long-Evans, Sprague-Dawley, and Wistar. Cross-tolerance to barbital was also observed in all strains after chronic treatment with ethanol. However, chronic ethanol treatment failed to produce cross-tolerance to pentobarbital-induced motor impairment and hypnosis in any of the four strains. The demonstration of cross-tolerance to barbital and the lack of it to pentobarbital after chronic ethanol treatment confirms and extends recent observations on the specificity of the site and/or mechanism of action of sedative-hypnotic drugs that differ in lipid solubility.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pharmacology, University of Toronto, Canada.
authors.forename: J M
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Khanna
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Kalant
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Shah
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Chau
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001462:Barbital / Q000378:metabolism / Q000494:pharmacology*; D004361:Drug Tolerance; D000431:Ethanol / Q000378:metabolism / Q000494:pharmacology*; D008297:Male; D010424:Pentobarbital / Q000378:metabolism / Q000494:pharmacology*; D004856:Postural Balance / Q000187:drug effects; D051381:Rats; D011916:Rats, Inbred F344; D011919:Rats, Inbred Strains; D012890:Sleep / Q000187:drug effects; D013045:Species Specificity
chemical_list: D000431:Ethanol; D001462:Barbital; D010424:Pentobarbital