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Dopaminergic mediation of the interoceptive cue produced by d-amphetamine in rats

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Abstract

After rats were trained to differentiate between the effects of d-amphetamine and saline in a state-dependent task, pretreatment with the tyrosine hydroxylase inhibitor, α-methyl-p-tyrosine, significantly decreased amphetamine discrimination. Pretreatment with the dopamine-Β-hydroxylase inhibitor, disulfiram, or with the tryptophan hydroxylase inhibitor, p-chloro-phenylalanine, was observed to have no effect on the rats' ability to discriminate d-amphetamine. Administration of haloperidol, a selective dopamine receptor blocker, completely abolished the amphetamine discrimination, whereas α- and Β-adrenergic receptor blockade had no effect. Apomorphine, a dopamine receptor stimulant, produced amphetamine-like responses and this was, likewise, abolished by pretreatment with haloperidol. These data suggest that dopaminergic systems mediate the interoceptive cue produced by d-amphetamine in rats, and these results are discussed in relation to possible dopamine mediation of amphetamine psychosis and paranoid schizophrenia.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Pharmacology, University of Melbourne, Parkville, Victoria, Australia

    Martin D. Schechter & Peter G. Cook

  2. Department of Pharmacology, Eastern Virginia School, 23507, Norfolk, Va., USA

    Martin D. Schechter

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  1. Martin D. Schechter
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  2. Peter G. Cook
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Supported as an Americal Medical Association Education and Research Foundation Senior Research Fellow.

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Schechter, M.D., Cook, P.G. Dopaminergic mediation of the interoceptive cue produced by d-amphetamine in rats. Psychopharmacologia 42, 185–193 (1975). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00429551

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00429551

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