Abstract
The present study was designed to assess the behavioral similarity of the effects of prototype dopamine receptor-subtype selective agonists and cocaine. Squirrel monkeys (N=4) were trained with food reinforcement to press one of two levers after administration of IV cocaine (0.3 mg/kg) or the other lever after saline. After training, IV cocaine produced reliable responding on the cocaine lever (>98%), whereas saline produced reliable responding on the alternate lever (>98%). The D2 agonist, quinpirole (0.003–1.0 mg/kg, IM), produced dose-related increases in cocaine-appropriate responding, with maximal effects of 62%. When delivered IV, quinpirole (0.01–0.17 mg/kg) was approximately twice as potent, but no more effective. The D1 agonist, SKF 38393 (0.3–30.0 mg/kg, IM or 3.0–17.0 mg/kg, IV) failed to produce any significant cocaine-appropriate responding. Further, pretreatment with SKF 38393 (either 0.3 or 10.0 mg/kg, IM) did not significantly alter the the quinpirole (0.01–1.0 mg/kg, IM) dose-effect curve. The effects of these drugs differ from those previously reported in rats, suggesting a species difference that may be of importance in evaluating the behavioral pharmacology of cocaine.
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Katz, J.L., Witkin, J.M. Effects of quinpirole and SKF 38393 alone and in combination in squirrel monkeys trained to discriminate cocaine. Psychopharmacology 107, 217–220 (1992). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02245140
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02245140