Pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic analysis of d-amphetamine in an attention task in rodents
Amphetamine is a common therapeutic agent for alleviating the core symptoms associated with attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) in children and adults. The current study used a translational model of attention, the five-choice serial reaction time (5-CSRT) procedure with rats, to examine the time-course effects of d-amphetamine. Effects of different dosages of d-amphetamine were related to drug–plasma concentrations, fashioned after comprehensive pharmacokinetic/pharmacodynamic assessments that have been employed in clinical investigations. We sought to determine whether acute drug–plasma concentrations tha...
Source: Behavioural Pharmacology - August 4, 2018 Category: Drugs & Pharmacology Tags: Short Reports Source Type: research
Co-administration of amphetamine with alcohol results in decreased alcohol withdrawal severity in adolescent rats
Simultaneous use of stimulants and alcohol is a growing problem, particularly among older adolescents already prone to binge alcohol consumption. Adolescent rats consume high levels of alcohol when administered in a liquid diet and develop a strong alcohol withdrawal syndrome. We exploited this system to administer amphetamine in combination with alcohol and to test the effect of co-administration of amphetamine on alcohol withdrawal-induced hypoactivity and overall withdrawal severity. The presence of dietary amphetamine (≤40 mg/l) had no effect on consumption of control or alcohol-containing diets. Measured in an act...
Source: Behavioural Pharmacology - August 4, 2018 Category: Drugs & Pharmacology Tags: Short Reports Source Type: research
Acute food deprivation separates motor-activating from anxiolytic effects of caffeine in a rat open field test model
Similar doses of caffeine have been shown to produce either anxiolytic or anxiogenic effects in rats. The reasons for these conflicting results are not known. We hypothesized that food deprivation stress interacts with the stimulant effects of caffeine to increase anxiety-like behavior. We tested 32 female Sprague Dawley rats in a dim open field for 10 min. Half of the animals were food deprived for 24 h and injected (intraperitoneal) with caffeine (30 mg/kg; n=7) or deionized water (n=8) 20 min before the open field test. The other half was nondeprived and injected with caffeine (30 mg/kg; n=8) or deionized wate...
Source: Behavioural Pharmacology - August 4, 2018 Category: Drugs & Pharmacology Tags: Short Reports Source Type: research
Effects on brain-derived neurotrophic factor signalling of chronic mild stress, chronic risperidone and acute intracranial dopamine receptor challenges
We have previously reported the effects of intracranial injections of dopamine D1, D2 and D3 ligands in animals subjected to the Novel Object Recognition (NOR) test following exposure to chronic mild stress (CMS) and chronic treatment with risperidone (RSP). Here, we present some molecular biological data from the same animals. It was predicted that brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) signalling in the prefrontal cortex (PFC) would reflect behavioural performance, implying an increase following acute administration of a D2 agonist or a D3 antagonist, blockade of this effect by CMS and its restoration by chronic RSP. I...
Source: Behavioural Pharmacology - August 4, 2018 Category: Drugs & Pharmacology Tags: Short Reports Source Type: research
Psilocin and ketamine microdosing: effects of subchronic intermittent microdoses in the elevated plus-maze in male Wistar rats
The objective of this study was to test for lasting effects on anxiety in rats after microdosing with ketamine or psilocin. Over 6 days, Wistar rats (N=40) were administered ketamine (0.5 or 3 mg/kg), psilocin (0.05 or 0.075 mg/kg), or saline on three occasions. A 5-min elevated plus-maze test was conducted 48 h after the final drug treatment (n=8). Dependent variables were entries (frequency), spent time (%), and distance traveled (cm) in each zone, as well as total frequency of rears, stretch-attend postures, and head dips. Statistical analyses of drug effects used separate independent one-way analysis of variance ...
Source: Behavioural Pharmacology - August 4, 2018 Category: Drugs & Pharmacology Tags: Research Reports Source Type: research
