Abstract
The present study was designed to assess the discriminative stimulus properties of cocaine in pigeons. Six pigeons were trained to discriminate IM injections of cocaine (2 mg/kg) from saline with responding maintained under a fixed-ratio 30 schedule of food delivery. Cocaine, d-amphetamine, and l-cathinone substituted completely for the training dose of cocaine in all pigeons. When nicotine (0.25–4.0 mg/kg), apomorphine (0.03–1.0 mg/kg), procaine (4–32 mg/kg), and lidocaine (4–16 mg/kg) were substituted, both partial substitutions and individual differences between pigeons were observed. Oxazepam (0.5–4.0 mg/kg) and pentobarbital (2–8 mg/kg) failed to substitute for the training dose of cocaine. Discriminative stimulus control by cocaine was greatest when the drug was administered 10–40 min prior to the session and the effects disappeared after 2 h. The substitution results indicate drug class specificity of the cocaine cue but, in addition, suggest its multidimensional nature.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Ando K, Yanagita T (1978) The disciminative stimulus properties of intravenously administered cocaine in rhesus monkeys. In: Colpaert FC, Rosecrans JA (eds) Stimulus properties of drugs: Ten years of progress. Elsevier/North-Holland Biomedical, Amsterdam, pp 125–136
Barry H, Krimmer EC (1978) Similarities and differences in discriminative stimulus effects of chlordiazepoxide, pentobarbital, ethanol, and other sedatives. In: Colpaert FC, Rosecrans JA (eds) Stimulus properties of drugs: Ten years of progress. Elsevier/North-Holland Biomedical, Amsterdam, pp 31–51
Chance WT, Murfin D, Krynock GM, Rosecrans JA (1977) A description of the nicotine stimulus and tests of its generalization to amphetamine. Psychopharmacology 55:19–26
Colpaert FC, Niemegeers CJE, Janssen PAJ (1976) Cocaine cue in rats as it relates to subjective drug effects: A preliminary report. Eur J Pharmacol 40:195–199
Colpaert FC, Niemegeers CJE, Janssen PAJ (1978) Discriminative stimulus properties of cocaine and d-amphetamine, and antagonism by haloperidol: A comparative study. Neuropharmacology 17:937–942
Colpaert FC, Niemegeers CJE, Janssen PAJ (1979) Discriminative stimulus properties of cocaine: Neuropharmacological characteristics as derived from stimulus generalization experiments. Pharmacol Biochem Behav 10:535–546
Colpaert FC, Niemegeers CJE, Janssen PAJ (1980) Evidence that a preferred substrate for type-B monoamine oxidase mediates stimulus properties of MAO inhibitors: A possible role for β-phenylethylamine in the cocaine cue. Pharmacol Biochem Behav 13:513–517
D'Mello GD, Stolerman IP (1977) Comparison of the discriminative stimulus properties of cocaine and amphetamine in rats. Br J Pharmacol 61:415–422
Fischman MW, Schuster CR, Hatano Y (1983a) A comparison of the subjective and cardiovascular effects of cocaine and lidocaine in humans. Pharmacol Biochem Behav 18:123–127
Fischman MW, Schuster CR, Rajer S (1983b) A comparison of the subjective and cardiovascular effects of cocaine and procaine in humans. Pharmacol Biochem Behav 18:711–716
de la Garza R, Johanson CE (1982) Effects of haloperidol and physostigmine on self-administration of local anesthetics. Pharmacol Biochem Behav 17:1295–1299
de la Garza R, Johanson CE (1983) The discriminative stimulus properties of cocaine in the rhesus monkey. Pharmacol Biochem Behav 19:145–148
de la Garza R, Johanson CE, Schuster CR (1983) Discriminative stimulus effects of oxazepam and pentobarbital. Fed Proc 43:620
Halbach H (1972) Medical aspects of the chewing of khat leaves. Bull WHO 47:21–29
Halbach H (1980) Khat: The problem today. Natl Inst Drug Abuse Res Monogr 27:318–319
Herling S, Woods JH (1981) Discriminative stimulus effects of narcotics: Evidence for multiple receptor-mediated actions. Life Sci 28:1571–1584
Ho BT, McKenna ML (1978) Discriminative stimulus properties of central stimulants. In: Ho BT, Richards DW, Chute DL (eds) Drug discrimination and state-dependent learning. Academic Press, New York, pp 67–77
Ho BT, Silverman PB (1978) Stimulants as discriminative stimuli. In: Colpaert FC, Rosecrans JA (eds) Stimulus properties of drugs: Ten years of progress. Elsevier/North-Holland Biomedical, Amsterdam, pp 53–68
Huang D, Wilson MC (1982) Comparative stimulus properties of cocaine and other local anesthetics in rats. Res Commun Subst Abuse 3:129–140
Jarbe TUC (1978) Cocaine as a discriminative cue in rats: Interactions with neuroleptics and other drugs. Psychopharmacology 59:183–187
Jarbe TUC (1981) Cocaine cue in pigeons: Time course studies and generalization to structurally related compounds (Norcocaine, WIN 35,428 and 35,065-2) and (+)-amphetamine. Br J Pharmacol 73:843–852
Jarbe TUC (1982) Discriminative stimulus properties of d-amphetamine in pigeons. Pharmacol Biochem Behav 17:671–675
Johanson CE (1980) The reinforcing properties of procaine, chloroprocaine and proparacaine in rhesus monkeys. Psychopharmacology 67:189–194
Johanson CE, Schuster CR (1981) A comparison of the behavioral effects of l- and dl-cathinone and d-amphetamine. J Pharmacol Exp Ther 219:355–362
Kalix P (1980) A constituent of khat leaves with amphetamine-like releasing properties. Eur J Pharmacol 62:213–215
Kalix P (1981) Cathinone, an alkaloid from khat leaves with an amphetamine-like releasing effect. Psychopharmacology 74:269–270
McKenna ML, Ho BT (1980) The role of dopamine in the discriminative stimulus properties of cocaine. Neuropharmacology 19:297–303
McMillan DE, Dearstyne MR, Engstrom TG (1975) Some effects of local anesthetics on schedule-controlled behavior. Pharmacol Ther Dent 2:57–64
Morrison CF, Lee PN (1968) A comparison of the effects of nicotine and physostigmine on a measure of activity in the rat. Psychopharmacology 13:210–221
Rosecrans JA, Meltzer LT (1981) Central sites and mechanisms of action of nicotine. Neurosci Biobehav Rev 5:497–501
Rosecrans JA, Campbell OL, Dewey WL, Harris LS (1980) Discriminative stimulus and neurochemical mechanism of cathinone. A preliminary study. Natl Inst Drug Abuse Res Monogr 27:328–329
Schechter MD (1977) Amphetamine discrimination as a test for anti-Parkinsonism drugs. Eur J Pharmacol 44:51–56
Schechter MD (1983) Drug sensitivity of individual rats determines degree of drug discrimination. Pharmacol Biochem Behav 19:1–4
Schechter MD, Cook PG (1975) Dopaminergic mediation of the interoceptive cue produced by d-amphetamine in rats. Psychopharmacologia 42:185–193
Shannon HE, Holtzman SG (1979) Morphine training dose: A determinant of stimulus generalization to narcotic antagonists in the rat. Psychopharmacology 61:239–244
Spealman RD, Goldberg SR, Kelleher RT, Goldberg DM, Charlton JP (1977) Some effects of cocaine and two cocaine analogs on schedule-controlled behavior of squirrel monkeys. J Pharmacol Exp Ther 202:500–509
Spealman RD, Goldberg SR, Gardner ML (1981) Behavioral effects of nicotine: Schedule-controlled responding by squirrel monkeys. J Pharmacol Exp Ther 216:484–491
Stolerman IP, D'Mello GD (1981) Role of training conditions in discrimination of central nervous system stimulants by rats. Psychopharmacology 73:295–303
Van Dyke C, Jatlow P, Unsener J, Barash P, Byck R (1979) Cocaine and lidocaine have similar psychological effects after intranasal application. Life Sci 24:271–274
Wagner GC, Preston K, Ricaurte GA, Schuster CR, Seiden LS (1982) Neurochemical similarities between d,l-cathinone and d-amphetamine. Drug Alcohol Depend 9:279–284
Winter JC (1981) Drug-induced stimulus control and the concept of breaking point: LSD and quipazine. Psychopharmacology 72:217–218
Woolverton WL, Balster RL (1979) Reinforcing properties of some local anesthetics in rhesus monkeys. Pharmacol Biochem Behav 11:669–672
Woolverton WL, Balster RL (1982) Behavioral pharmacology of local anesthetics: Reinforcing and discriminative stimulus effects. Pharmacol Biochem Behav 16:491–500
Woolverton WL, Balster RL (1983) Effects of local anesthetics on fixed-interval responding in rhesus monkeys. Pharmacol Biochem Behav 18:383–387
Woolverton WL, Trost RC (1978) Cocaine as a discriminative stimulus for responding maintained by food in squirrel monkeys. Pharmacol Biochem Behav 8:627–630
Yanagita T (1980) Studies on cathinones: Cardiovascular and behavioral effects in rats and self-administration experiment in rhesus monkey. Natl Inst Drug Abuse Res Monogr 27:326–327
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
de la Garza, R., Johanson, C.E. Discriminative stimulus properties of cocaine in pigeons. Psychopharmacology 85, 23–30 (1985). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00427317
Received:
Accepted:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00427317