Cocaine and central monoaminergic neurotransmission: a review of electrophysiological studies and comparison to amphetamine and antidepressants.
Psychomotor stimulants (e.g. cocaine and amphetamine) and many antidepressants are believed to elicit their psychotropic actions by interacting primarily with central monoaminergic neurons. The acute central neuronal effects of amphetamine and antidepressants have been extensively investigated in rats utilizing extracellular single unit electrophysiological and microiontophoretic techniques in vivo. In recent years the chronic effects of these compounds on the above neuronal systems have also been reported. Such investigations have proliferated because of the realization that the mechanisms underlying the psychotomimetic effects (e.g. amphetamine and cocaine) and mood elevation (i.e. antidepressants) observed with the administration of these drugs are more accurately reflected in chronic studies. For many years it has been assumed that cocaine and amphetamine produce very similar if not identical psychotropic effects through their actions on central monoaminergic neurotransmission. In terms of effects on single monoaminergic neurons, this assumption had gone by untested until two years ago, when the first report of the electrophysiological effects of cocaine on central monoaminergic (locus ceruleus) neurons appeared in the literature (61). This review discusses recent electrophysiological studies with cocaine at the level of single identified monoaminergic neurons and compares such data with that previously reported for amphetamine and antidepressants. In addition to identifying some of the similarities and differences between these compounds, this review also highlights some of the gaps in our knowledge regarding the effects of these drugs on central monoaminergic neurotransmission.
D000661:Amphetamine / Q000494:pharmacology*; D000818:Animals; D000928:Antidepressive Agents / Q000494:pharmacology*; D002490:Central Nervous System / Q000187:drug effects / Q000502:physiology*; D003042:Cocaine / Q000494:pharmacology*; D004594:Electrophysiology; D009474:Neurons / Q000187:drug effects / Q000502:physiology; D018377:Neurotransmitter Agents / Q000502:physiology*; D051381:Rats; D009435:Synaptic Transmission / Q000187:drug effects*
D000928:Antidepressive Agents; D018377:Neurotransmitter Agents; D000661:Amphetamine; D003042:Cocaine