Discriminative stimulus effects of dopaminergic agents in rhesus monkeys

Predicting abuse potential of stimulants and other dopaminergic drugs: overview and recommendations

Examination of a drug's abuse potential at multiple levels of analysis (molecular/cellular action, whole-organism behavior, epidemiological data) is an essential component to regulating controlled substances under the Controlled Substances Act (CSA). We reviewed studies that examined several central nervous system (CNS) stimulants, focusing on those with primarily dopaminergic actions, in drug self-administration, drug discrimination, and physical dependence. For drug self-administration and drug discrimination, we distinguished between experiments conducted with rats and nonhuman primates (NHP) to highlight the common and unique attributes of each model in the assessment of abuse potential. Our review of drug self-administration studies suggests that this procedure is important in predicting abuse potential of dopaminergic compounds, but there were many false positives. We recommended that tests to determine how reinforcing a drug is relative to a known drug of abuse may be more predictive of abuse potential than tests that yield a binary, yes-or-no classification. Several false positives also occurred with drug discrimination. With this procedure, we recommended that future research follow a standard decision-tree approach that may require examining the drug being tested for abuse potential as the training stimulus. This approach would also allow several known drugs of abuse to be tested for substitution, and this may reduce false positives. Finally, we reviewed evidence of physical dependence with stimulants and discussed the feasibility of modeling these phenomena in nonhuman animals in a rational and practical fashion. This article is part of the Special Issue entitled 'CNS Stimulants'.

Efficacy of buspirone for attenuating cocaine and methamphetamine reinstatement in rats

BACKGROUND

There are no approved pharmacotherapies for preventing psychomotor stimulant relapse. The operant reinstatement model has been suggested as a screen for identifying candidate medications. The present study examined if the anxiolytic buspirone could attenuate reinstatement of extinguished responding in Long-Evans rats that previously self-administered intravenous cocaine or methamphetamine.

METHODS

Rats were trained in 2-h daily sessions to self-administer 0.5mg/kg cocaine or 0.1mg/kg methamphetamine infusions followed by 12 days of instrumental extinction. Reinstatement was evoked by 17mg/kg i.p. cocaine primes or response-contingent cocaine-paired cues in cocaine-reinforced rats, and by 1mg/kg i.p. methamphetamine primes or response-contingent methamphetamine-paired cues in methamphetamine-reinforced rats.

RESULTS

Buspirone (1 and 3mg/kg) significantly (p<0.05) attenuated cocaine cue but not cocaine prime reinstatement. Buspirone (1 and 3mg/kg) also significantly attenuated methamphetamine cue reinstatement. Buspirone (3mg/kg) significantly attenuated methamphetamine prime reinstatement. During all reinstatement tests, 3mg/kg buspirone reduced levels of inactive lever pressing relative to those of vehicle, significantly so during the cocaine cue-induced reinstatement tests.

CONCLUSIONS

Given the complexity of buspirone's neuropharmacology consisting of serotonin 5-HT1A receptor partial agonist activity, and dopamine D2, D3 and D4 receptor antagonist effects, it is uncertain which of these activities or their combination is responsible for the present results. Overall, these results suggest that buspirone may reduce the likelihood of relapse to cocaine and methamphetamine use under some conditions, although this speculation must be interpreted with caution given buspirone's similar potency to attenuate inactive-lever responding.

Effects of chronic buspirone treatment on cocaine self-administration

Cocaine abuse and dependence is a major public health problem that continues to challenge medication-based treatment. Buspirone (Buspar) is a clinically available, non-benzodiazepine anxiolytic medication that acts on both serotonin and dopamine systems. In recent preclinical studies, acute buspirone treatment reduced cocaine self-administration at doses that did not also decrease food-reinforced behavior in rhesus monkeys (Bergman et al, 2012). The present study evaluated the effectiveness of chronic buspirone treatment on self-administration of cocaine and food. Five adult rhesus monkeys (Macaca mulatta) were trained to self-administer cocaine and food during four 1-h daily sessions under a second-order schedule of reinforcement (FR2 [VR 16:S]). Buspirone (0.32 and 0.56 mg/kg/h) was administered intravenously through one lumen of a double-lumen catheter every 20 min for 23 h each day for 7-10 consecutive days. Each buspirone treatment period was followed by saline control treatment until drug- and food-maintained responding returned to baseline levels. Buspirone significantly reduced responding maintained by cocaine, and shifted the dose-effect curve downwards. Buspirone had minimal effects on food-maintained responding. In cocaine discrimination studies, buspirone (0.1-0.32 mg/kg, IM) did not antagonize the discriminative stimulus and rate-altering effects of cocaine in four of six monkeys. These findings indicate that buspirone selectively attenuates the reinforcing effects of cocaine in a nonhuman primate model of cocaine self-administration, and has variable effects on cocaine discrimination.

The selective dopamine uptake inhibitor, D-84, suppresses cocaine self-administration, but does not occasion cocaine-like levels of generalization

A successful replacement pharmacotherapy for treating cocaine dependency would likely reduce cocaine's abuse, support a low abuse liability, overlap cocaine's subjective effects, and have a long duration of action. Inhibitors with varying selectivity at the dopamine transporter (DAT) have approximated these properties. The objective of the present study was to characterize the behavioural effects of an extremely selective DAT inhibitor, (+) trans-4-(2-Benzhydryloxyethyl)-1-(4-fluorobenzyl) piperadin-3-ol (D-84), a 3-hydroxy substituted piperidine derivative of GBR-12935, for its cocaine-like discriminative stimulus effects, its effects on cocaine self-administration, and for its own self-administration. During cocaine discrimination tests, cocaine occasioned the 10 mg/kg cocaine training stimulus with an ED(50) value of 3.13 (1.54-6.34) mg/kg, and reduced response rates with an ED(50) value of 20.39 (7.24-57.44) mg/kg. D-84 incompletely generalized to the cocaine stimulus occasioning a maximal 76% cocaine-lever responding, while reducing response rates with lower potency than cocaine (ED(50)=30.94 (12.34-77.60) mg/kg). Pretreatment with D-84 (9.6-30.4 mg/kg) significantly (P<0.05) reduced cocaine intake at 17.1 mg/kg D-84 when cocaine was self-administered at 0.5 mg/kg/infusion, and at 30.4 mg/kg D-84 when cocaine was self-administered at 0.1, 0.5 .and 1.0 mg/kg/infusion. During self-administration tests with D-84 (0.1-1 mg/kg/infusion), numbers of infusions significantly exceeded vehicle levels at 0.3 mg/kg/infusion. These results show that D-84 pretreatment can decrease cocaine intake especially when high doses of cocaine are being self-administered. This observation, combined with its incomplete generalization to the cocaine discriminative stimulus and its reported long duration of action, provides a profile consistent with a potential replacement therapy for treating cocaine-abusing patients.

A within-subject assessment of the discriminative stimulus and reinforcing effects of self-administered cocaine in rhesus monkeys

RATIONALE

Drug discrimination (DD) and drug self-administration (SA) are frequently used preclinical assays. All preclinical studies with cocaine have examined the discriminative stimulus (S(D)) and reinforcing (S(R)) effects in separate groups of subjects.

OBJECTIVE

The objective of the study is to train drug-naïve rhesus macaques to discriminate self-administered cocaine from saline and to assess S(D) and S(R) effects using a within-subjects design.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

Adult male rhesus monkeys (n = 4) were trained to self-administer cocaine (0.1 mg/kg per injection) under a progressive-ratio (PR) reinforcement schedule. Next, they were trained to discriminate self-administered cocaine (0.45 or 0.56 mg/kg) or saline under a fixed-ratio (FR) 50 schedule of food presentation. The final schedule combined DD and SA into a multiple [chained FR 50 SA (cocaine or saline), food-reinforced DD] and PR SA schedule.

RESULTS

Each subject acquired SA under a PR schedule with significant differences in breakpoint between saline and cocaine evident by session 5. Self-administered cocaine was established as an S(D), such that 80% of responding before delivery of the first reinforcer and 90% of all responding occurred on the injection-appropriate lever. In all monkeys, there was at least one cocaine dose that did not engender cocaine-appropriate responding during DD (i.e., <20% cocaine-appropriate responding) yet functioned as a reinforcer during PR SA, suggesting that cocaine-like S(D) effects are not necessary for cocaine reinforcement.

CONCLUSIONS

This within-subject model may provide new information related to the behavioral mechanisms of action leading to the high abuse potential of cocaine; such information may lead to novel pharmacological treatment strategies for addiction.

Positive allosteric modulation of the human cannabinoid (CB) receptor by RTI-371, a selective inhibitor of the dopamine transporter

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE

In our search for an indirect dopamine agonist as therapy for cocaine addiction, several selective inhibitors of the dopamine transporter (DAT), which are 3-phenyltropane analogues, were assayed for their effect on locomotor activity in mice. Interestingly, several of the compounds showed a poor correlation between stimulation of locomotion and DAT inhibition. One of the compounds, 3beta-(4-methylphenyl)-2beta-[3-(4-chlorophenyl)isoxazol-5-yl]tropane (RTI-371), was shown to cross the blood-brain barrier, by binding studies in vivo, and block cocaine-induced locomotor stimulation. As poor pharmacokinetics could not explain the behavioural effects of RTI-371, this compound was screened through our functional assays for activity at other CNS receptors. Initial screening identified RTI-371 as a positive allosteric modulator of the human CB(1) (hCB(1)) receptor.

EXPERIMENTAL APPROACH

The effect of RTI-371 and other DAT-selective inhibitors on CP55940-stimulated calcium mobilization was characterized in a calcium mobilization-based functional assay for the hCB(1) receptor. Selected compounds were also characterized in a similar assay for human mu opioid receptor activation to assess the specificity of their effects.

KEY RESULTS

RTI-371 and several other DAT-selective inhibitors with atypical actions on locomotor behaviour increased the efficacy of CP55940 in a concentration-dependent manner.

CONCLUSIONS AND IMPLICATIONS

These results suggest that the lack of correlation between the DAT-binding affinity and locomotor stimulation of RTI-371 could be due at least in part to its activity as a positive modulator of the hCB(1) receptor.

Interactions of cocaine with dopamine uptake inhibitors or dopamine releasers in rats discriminating cocaine

Several dopamine (DA) indirect agonists have been proposed as potential medications for treating cocaine abuse. The objective of the present study was to quantify the interactions among cocaine and DA uptake inhibitors or DA releasers to better understand how these drugs may be working when administered in combination. The DA uptake inhibitors GBR 12909 [1-{2-[bis-(4-fluorophenyl)methoxy]-ethyl}-4-(3-phenylpropyl)piperazine], WIN 35,428 [2beta-carbomethoxy-3beta-(4-fluorophenyl)tropane], methylphenidate, indatraline, nomifensine, and mazindol and DA releasers methamphetamine, d-amphetamine, methcathinone, cathinone, fencamfamine, and phentermine were examined alone and in combination with cocaine in rats trained to discriminate cocaine (10 mg/kg i.p.) from saline injections. All of the DA indirect agonists dose-dependently substituted for cocaine and shifted the cocaine dose-effect curve leftward. Isobolographic analysis indicated the interactions were generally additive, although both methamphetamine and d-amphetamine were quantitatively determined to be more potent than DA uptake inhibitors in shifting the cocaine dose-effect function to the left. The potential of d-amphetamine as an effective treatment for cocaine abuse and negative clinical results with dopamine uptake inhibitors suggest that differences in shifts in dose-effect curves should be further examined with emerging clinical data as a predictive index of potential treatments for cocaine abuse.

Modulation of the discriminative stimulus effects of d-amphetamine by mu and kappa opioids in squirrel monkeys

It has been reported that the discriminative stimulus effects of cocaine in squirrel monkeys can be potentiated by mu opioid agonists and attenuated by kappa opioid agonists. The purpose of this study was to extend these observations by examining the effects of mu and kappa opioids agonists on the discriminative stimulus effects of d-amphetamine (AMPH). Five squirrel monkeys were trained to discriminate 0.3 mg/kg of AMPH (i.m.) from saline using a stimulus termination/avoidance task. AMPH and cocaine substituted dose dependently for the AMPH training stimulus in all five monkeys. The AMPH training dose was completely antagonized by 0.1 mg/kg of the D1 dopamine antagonist SCH 39166. When administered alone, the kappa agonist U69,593 substituted partially or completely for AMPH in four of five monkeys, the kappa agonist enadoline substituted completely for AMPH in two of five monkeys, and morphine substituted completely for AMPH in one monkey. In all five monkeys, pretreatment with some doses of U69,593 or enadoline attenuated the discriminative stimulus effects of AMPH; however, some doses of U69,593 and enadoline also potentiated the effects of AMPH in at least two monkeys. Morphine pretreatment potentiated the discriminative stimulus effects of AMPH in three monkeys and either attenuated or did not alter these effects in two monkeys. Morphine pretreatment did not significantly alter the discriminative stimulus effects of cocaine except in one monkey. These data indicate large individual differences in the abilities of mu and kappa opioid agonists to alter the discriminative stimulus effects of AMPH.

Effects of phentermine and fenfluramine on alcohol consumption and alcohol withdrawal seizures in rats

The drug combination of phentermine plus fenfluramine has been used clinically in both the treatment of obesity and alcoholism. The aim of the current study was to assess the interaction of the two drugs on consumption of both an alcohol-containing and a nonalcoholic diet. Furthermore, the efficacy of the drug combination on suppression of withdrawal seizures was determined. Animals were either maintained on a 6% alcohol-containing diet, free-fed an isocaloric control, or pair-fed the control diet. It was observed that, with regard to body weight growth curves, alcohol provides about 2.5 kcal/g. Both phentermine and fenfluramine caused a decrease in consumption 1 h after administration; however, during the next 23 h, 4 mg/kg phentermine significantly increased consumption of all diets. At doses of 1 and 2 mg/kg, fenfluramine selectively reduced consumption of the alcohol-containing diet as compared to the isocaloric diets. Lower doses of fenfluramine blocked the increases in consumption induced by phentermine. Furthermore, in animals fed the nonalcoholic diet, the drug combination of 2 mg/kg fenfluramine plus 8 mg/kg phentermine produced a 63-82% reduction in consumption, an effect not seen when either drug was administered alone. This greater than additive effect was also seen in the earlier time periods in animals pair-fed the control diet. Neurochemical analysis from these animals revealed that the alcohol-dependent animals displayed a significant reduction of DOPAC and 5-HIAA levels in the striatum, frontal cortex, and hypothalamus after a 9-h withdrawal period, further implicating the serotonergic and dopaminergic systems in mediation of withdrawal symptoms and alcohol craving. Finally, 8 mg/kg phentermine plus 8 mg/kg fenfluramine completely abolished alcohol withdrawal seizures, compared to a 78% rate in saline treated rats. In conclusion, the coadministration of phentermine plus fenfluramine produced a moderate reduction of alcohol consumption and was completely effective at reducing alcohol withdrawal seizures.

Synthesis and pharmacology of site-specific cocaine abuse treatment agents: 2-(aminomethyl)-3-phenylbicyclo[2.2.2]- and -[2.2.1]alkane dopamine uptake inhibitors

As part of a program to develop site-specific medications for cocaine abuse, a series of 2-(aminomethyl)-3-phenylbicyclo[2.2.2]- and -[2.2.1]alkane derivatives was synthesized and tested for inhibitory potency in [3H]WIN 35,428 binding and [3H]dopamine uptake assays using rat striatal tissue. Selected compounds were tested for their ability to substitute for cocaine in rat drug discrimination tests. Synthesis was accomplished by a series of Diels-Alder reactions, using cis- and trans-cinnamic acid derivatives (nitrile, acid, acid chloride) with cyclohexadiene and cyclopentadiene. Standard manipulations produced the aminomethyl side chain. Many of the compounds bound with high affinity (median IC50 = 223 nM) to the cocaine binding site as marked by [3H]WIN 35,428. Potency in the binding assay was strongly enhanced by chlorine atoms in the 3- and/or 4-position on the aromatic ring and was little affected by corresponding methoxy groups. In the [2.2.2] series there was little difference in potency between cis and trans compounds or between N, N-dimethylamines and primary amines. In the [2.2.1] series the trans exo compounds tended to be least potent against binding, whereas the cis exo compounds were the most potent (4-Cl cis exo: IC50 = 7.7 nM, 27-fold more potent than 4-Cl trans-exo). Although the potencies of the bicyclic derivatives in the binding and uptake assays were highly correlated, some of the compounds were 5-7-fold less potent at inhibiting [3H]dopamine uptake than [3H]WIN 35,428 binding (for comparison, cocaine has a lower discrimination ratio (DR) of 2.5). The DR values were higher for almost all primary amines and for the trans-[2.2.2] series as compared to the cis-[2.2.2]. Most of the compounds had Hill coefficients approaching unity, except for the [2. 2.2] 3,4-dichloro derivatives, which all had nH values of about 2.0. Two of the compounds were shown to fully substitute for cocaine in drug discrimination tests in rats, and one had a very long duration of action.

Phentermine/fenfluramine decreases cocaine self-administration in rhesus monkeys

Dopaminergic agonists can decrease cocaine self-administration at doses that do not decrease food-maintained responding, a pre-clinical effect indicative of a potential treatment for human cocaine abuse. To assess whether similar effects could be obtained with medications currently used to treat substance abuse, phentermine and fenfluramine were given alone and in combination to rhesus monkeys responding under schedules of food and cocaine delivery. Phentermine decreased cocaine-maintained responding with no effect on food-maintained responding. Fenfluramine also selectively decreased cocaine-maintained responding, but only at the highest dose. Combining a lower dose of fenfluramine with phentermine selectively decreased cocaine-maintained responding, but not more than with phentermine alone. These results suggest that phentermine, as well as its combination with fenfluramine, may be useful in the treatment of cocaine abuse.

Effects of dopaminergic drugs on food- and cocaine-maintained responding. IV: Continuous cocaine infusions

The effects of cocaine (continuously infused during the session with and without a are-loading dose) on responding maintained under multiple fixed-ratio 30 schedules of limited access to food and cocaine delivery (10 or 56 micrograms/kg per injection) were studied in nine rhesus monkeys. When responding was maintained by 10 micrograms/kg per injection, cocaine decreased rates of cocaine-maintained responding in a dose-related manner while having no effect on food-maintained responding. When responding was maintained by 56 micrograms/kg per injection, cocaine decreased both cocaine- and food-maintained responding. These results show that the effects of continuous infusions of cocaine depend upon both the unit dose of cocaine and the event that maintains responding. As such, the effects of continuous infusions of cocaine are similar to those of other, longer-acting dopamine agonists. Such results support the development of long-acting agonist approaches to the pharmacotherapeutic treatment of cocaine abuse.