Tolerance to ethanol and cross-tolerance to pentobarbital and barbital in four rat strains.
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.
Khanna
J M
JM
Department of Pharmacology, University of Toronto, Canada.
Kalant
H
H
Shah
G
G
Chau
A
A
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
D000431:Ethanol; D001462:Barbital; D010424:Pentobarbital