Behavioural tolerance to arecoline in rats: cross-tolerance to oxotremorine and prevention by pretreatment with atropine.
In two experiments tolerance development to the effects of arecoline on operant responding for a water reward was shown to be dose-dependent, complete tolerance developing to a daily dose of 4 mg/kg, but only partial tolerance developing to a daily dose of 8 mg/kg. However, rats chronically treated with the higher dose of arecoline were least affected by a challenge dose of oxotremorine (0.2 mg/kg); i.e. the high dose group exhibited the greatest cross-tolerance to oxotremorine. Moreover, atropine (4 mg/kg) pretreatment prior to arecoline (4 mg/kg) prevented cross-tolerance to oxotremorine, indicating that dispositional mechanisms are unlikely to be involved in tolerance to arecoline.
D000818:Animals; D001115:Arecoline / Q000494:pharmacology*; D001285:Atropine / Q000494:pharmacology*; D003216:Conditioning, Operant / Q000187:drug effects*; D004361:Drug Tolerance; D005260:Female; D010095:Oxotremorine / Q000037:antagonists & inhibitors / Q000494:pharmacology*; D051381:Rats; D011919:Rats, Inbred Strains; D012055:Reinforcement Schedule
D001115:Arecoline; D010095:Oxotremorine; D001285:Atropine