Serotonergic mediation of tetrahydro-beta-carboline.
Rats were trained to discriminate between the stimulus properties of tetrahydro-beta-carboline (THBC) and its vehicle in a two-lever, food-motivated operant task. By steadily increasing the training dose, the discrimination was attained at 20.0 mg/kg THBC. Dose-response experiments subsequently indicated that decreasing doses of THBC produced decreased discrimination and generated an ED50 = 3.63 mg/kg. Administration of the serotonergically-active drug, fenfluramine, produced THBC-appropriate responding in a dose-responsive manner. In addition, LSD and yohimbine produced partial generalizations in the THBC-trained rats. These data suggest that the discriminative stimulus properties of THBC are mediated by serotonergic neurons in the central nervous system.
D000818:Animals; D002243:Carbolines / Q000494:pharmacology*; D004193:Discrimination Learning / Q000187:drug effects; D004305:Dose-Response Relationship, Drug; D005277:Fenfluramine / Q000494:pharmacology; D008238:Lysergic Acid Diethylamide / Q000494:pharmacology; D008297:Male; D051381:Rats; D011919:Rats, Inbred Strains; D012701:Serotonin / Q000502:physiology*; D015016:Yohimbine / Q000494:pharmacology
D002243:Carbolines; D005277:Fenfluramine; D015016:Yohimbine; D012701:Serotonin; C009804:tryptoline; D008238:Lysergic Acid Diethylamide