Anxiety-like subjective effect of ethanol antagonist RO 15-4513 demonstrated in pentylenetetrazol discrimination.
Ro 15-4513, a benzodiazepine-receptor ligand which antagonizes ethanol, was tested in the pentylenetetrazol discrimination, a bioassay for anxiogenic drugs. Rats were trained with food reward to discriminate pentylenetetrazol (PTZ) from saline in a two-lever operant task. In lever-selection tests, rats selected the PTZ lever both after PTZ and after Ro 15-4513. The PTZ-like stimulus produced by Ro 15-4513 was blocked by diazepam and by the benzodiazepine receptor blocker Ro 15-1788. Substitution for the anxiogenic drug PTZ, and blockade by the anxiolytic diazepam, support the hypothesis that Ro 15-4513 is anxiogenic; blockade by Ro 15-1788 suggests that the PTZ-like stimulus produced by Ro 15-4513 occurs through its action at the benzodiazepine receptor.
Harris
C M
CM
Department of Pharmacology, Texas College of Osteopathic Medicine, Fort Worth 76107.
Benjamin
D
D
Lal
H
H
D000818:Animals; D001007:Anxiety / Q000139:chemically induced*; D001386:Azides / Q000494:pharmacology*; D001569:Benzodiazepines / Q000494:pharmacology*; D003975:Diazepam / Q000494:pharmacology; D004192:Discrimination, Psychological / Q000187:drug effects*; D008297:Male; D010433:Pentylenetetrazole / Q000494:pharmacology*; D051381:Rats
D001386:Azides; D001569:Benzodiazepines; C042957:Ro 15-4513; D003975:Diazepam; D010433:Pentylenetetrazole