Chloral hydrate anesthesia alters the responsiveness of dorsal raphe neurons to psychoactive drugs.
The effects of several psychoactive drugs on raphe unit activity in freely moving cats was compared with drug-induced effects in chloral hydrate anesthetized cats. The anesthesia greatly potentiated the depressant effects of LSD, phenoxybenzamine, clonidine, methiothepin, clozapine, and chlorimipramine on raphe units, but partially antagonized the depressant effects of diazepam. These results demonstrate that apparently discrepant reports of the affects of these drugs on raphe neurons in anesthetized rats versus freely moving cats are attributable to the use of anesthesia in rat studies. These data underscore the importance of conducting such drug studies in awake, freely moving animals, for which the results would be far more relevant to the issue of human drug use.
D000818:Animals; D001933:Brain Stem / Q000187:drug effects*; D002415:Cats; D002697:Chloral Hydrate / Q000494:pharmacology*; D002997:Clomipramine / Q000494:pharmacology; D003000:Clonidine / Q000494:pharmacology; D003975:Diazepam / Q000494:pharmacology; D004347:Drug Interactions; D004594:Electrophysiology; D005260:Female; D008238:Lysergic Acid Diethylamide / Q000494:pharmacology; D008297:Male; D009474:Neurons / Q000187:drug effects*; D010643:Phenoxybenzamine / Q000494:pharmacology; D011619:Psychotropic Drugs / Q000494:pharmacology*; D011903:Raphe Nuclei / Q000187:drug effects*; D014851:Wakefulness
D011619:Psychotropic Drugs; D010643:Phenoxybenzamine; D002697:Chloral Hydrate; D008238:Lysergic Acid Diethylamide; D003000:Clonidine; D002997:Clomipramine; D003975:Diazepam