d-Amphetamine-chlorpromazine antagonism in a food reinforced operant

Drug-Behavior Interaction Affecting Development of Tolerance to D-Amphetamine as Observed in Fixed Ratio Behavior of Rats

Two groups of three rats each were trained to perform on a food-reinforced FR50 schedule. One group, subjected to daily dosage with 3.0 mg/kg d-amphetamine, developed tolerance to the depressing effect of the drug within 10 days. A second group similarly treated, except that the animals were not placed in the experimental chamber during daily dosage until the tenth day, failed to develop tolerance for 20 consecutive subsequent drug administrations. The finding is interpreted as a drug-behavior interaction.

ANTAGONISM OF A BEHAVIORAL EFFECT OF D-AMPHETAMINE BY CHLORPROMAZINE IN THE PIGEON

A dose of d-amphetamine which completely suppressed all responding was administered to each of five pigeons under an FR 30 schedule. When the pigeons were treated with chlorpromazine after 45 min or more, responding was restored. When d-amphetamine and chlorpromazine were administered simultaneously to three other pigeons, responding was better maintained than after d-amphetamine alone. This study confirms a previous finding that chlorpromazine can antagonize the rate-decreasing effect of d-amphetamine.

Antagonism of the behavioral effects of cocaine and d-amphetamine by prazosin

Key pecking by pigeons was maintained under a 30-response fixed-ratio schedule of food delivery; lever pressing by squirrel monkeys was maintained under a 3-min fixed-interval schedule of food delivery. Administered alone, d-amphetamine (0.1-3.0 mg/kg), cocaine (1.0-3.0 mg/kg) and bupropion (1.0-30 mg/kg) either did not affect or decreased fixed-ratio responding of pigeons, whereas d-amphetamine (0.056-0.3 mg/kg) either increased or decreased (0.56 mg/kg) responding of monkeys maintained under the fixed-interval schedule. Prazosin, a selective centrally-active alpha 1 antagonist, produced a dose-dependent reversal of the rate-decreasing effects of d-amphetamine and cocaine but not of bupropion on fixed-ratio responding in pigeons. Prazosin also reversed both the rate-increasing and rate-decreasing effects of d-amphetamine on fixed-interval responding of squirrel monkeys. In contrast, the non-selective alpha-antagonist phentolamine enhanced d-amphetamine-induced decreases in fixed-ratio responding. These findings suggest that the behavioral effects of d-amphetamine and cocaine are produced at least in part by activation of central alpha 1 receptors. Prazosin may be a useful tool for better understanding the mechanisms through which cocaine, amphetamine, and other abused stimulant drugs exert their potent behavioral effects.

The effect of d-amphetamine on operant behaviour maintained under variable-interval schedules of reinforcement

Dose-response curves were obtained for the effects of d-amphetamine sulphate (0.1-3.2 mg/kg) on the operant performance of rats in variable-interval 4-min and variable-interval 20-min schedules of reinforcement. Response rates maintained under variable-interval 4-min were suppressed in a dose-dependent manner. Response rates maintained under variable-interval 20-min schedules tended to be elevated by low doses and suppressed by higher doses. The degree of response rate suppression was greater in the case of the variable-interval 4-min schedule. The results are consistent with the previously reported effect of d-amphetamine on the values of the two constants of Herrnstein's (1970) equation: the drug reduces the reinforcement frequency needed to maintain the half-maximum response rates (KH) and lowers the maximum response rate (Rmax) (Bradshaw et al. 1981 b). It is suggested that the effects of d-amphetamine on operant performance may involve two processes: an enhancement of motivation and a reduction of the capacity to respond.

Amphetamine cumulation and tolerance development: concurrent and opposing phenomena

Whether diminished or augmented behavioral effects are observed after repeated amphetamine administration may reflect the relative balance between tolerance and drug cumulation. To investigate this, we measured the distribution of d-amphetamine in various tissues and its effects on performance of a conditioned behavior after acute or chronic treatment. Rats trained to lever press under a fixed ratio 5 schedule for food-reinforcement were tested daily for 4 min epochs in each of 6 consecutive hours. After responding was stable, animals were injected for 16 days with saline or 1.0, 2.5 or 5.0 mg 3H-d-amphetamine sulfate/kg IP 15 min before the second daily behavioral epoch. On the 17th day, animals which had been receiving 3H-d-amphetamine were given their usual dose and those which had been receiving saline were given one of the doses of 3H-d-amphetamine; all animals were decapitated approximately 2 1/4 hours after this final injection, immediately after the 4th behavioral epoch. Brain, heart, muscle, epididymal fat, and kidney were removed for subsequent analysis of unchanged 3H-d-amphetamine. The experiment was carried out in two phases, 3 1/2 months apart, which inadvertently resulted in shipment of rats from different buildings on the supplier's campus. Acute treatment produced dose-related effects on operant responding, the lowest dose increasing responding and the highest dose suppressing it. Chronic injection of the highest dose of d-amphetamine resulted in significant attenuation of its acute suppressant effect. Additionally, chronic treatment suppressed responding of rats 23 1/4 hours after injection (i.e., before the subsequent daily injection). Tissue levels of d-amphetamine were dose related and d-amphetamine cumulated after chronic treatment with the highest dose. When d-amphetamine was administered acutely, the behavioural effect immediately before decapitation was highly correlated with the concentration of d-amphetamine in brain and in heart. This was not the case after chronic treatment, since rats given the higher doses showed less behavioural effect than would have been predicted from the concentrations of d-amphetamine in their tissues. Besides evidence of tolerance and cumulation of drug in one or more tissues, a significant phase or colony difference emerged, which could have been due to seasonal or other factors. Additional, different experiments, performed concurrently on a new shipment of rats from each colony, allowed us to conclude that the original observations of phase differences were not due to seasonal differences or chance.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)

Differential effects of dopaminergic agonists on food-reinforced operant behavior in the long-tailed macaque (Macaca fascicularis)

Dopaminergic involvement in the regulation of operant behavior was examined by monitoring responding after administration of different dopaminergic agonists. A chain schedule of reinforcement was used to classify the effects of these agonists in long-tailed macaques (Macaca fascicularis). The schedule included the following: (1) a 30-s time-out period; (2) a clock-cued 30-s period of differential reinforcement of zero-response rate; (3) a time-in period whose duration depended on response latency; (4) a 2-s reinforcement period in which applesauce was delivered. This cycling schedule maintained a low operant rate and was sensitive to both inhibition (decreases) and excitation (increases) of responding. IV injection of the dopaminergic agonists resulted in the following two basic effects: (1) d-amphetamine and amfonelic acid disrupted performance by response inhibition, which was shown not to be attributable to anorexia; (2) apomorphine and bromocriptine disrupted performance by response excitation. Both effects were reduced by pretreatment with trifluperidol, a dopaminergic antagonist. The results, indicating that dopaminergic systems mediate disruption of food-reinforced operant behavior by altering the frequency of responding, are interpreted in terms of the known neuropharmacological actions of the agonists.

Selective antagonism of the rate-decreasing effect of d-amphetamine by chlorpromazine in a repeated-acquisition task

Pigeons acquired a different four-response chain each session by responding sequentially on three keys in the presence of four colors. The response chain was maintained by food presentation under a fixed-ratio schedule. When d-amphetamine was administered alone, the overall response rate decreased and the percent errors increased with increasing doses. When a small dose of chlorpromazine, which was ineffective when given alone, was administered in combination with d-amphetamine, the rate-decreasing effect was antagonized. The antagonism was selective, however, in that the error-increasing effect of d-amphetamine was augmented by chlorpromazine. The nature of the joint effect of the two drugs thus depended on the behavioral measure: rate vs. accuracy.

Rate-dependent effects of drugs: a review of the literature

It has been claimed that the effects of amphetamines on schedule-controlled behavior depend to a large extent on the rate of responding in control conditions. A review of the literature shows that there is considerable support for this hypothesis if the behavior is not suppressed by aversive procedures, is not under the control of powerful external stimuli or is not occurring very infrequently. The extension of a rate-dependency hypothesis to the effects of other drugs has less empirical support, however. It is argued that many of the procedures used for studying rate-dependent drug effects do not provide critical tests of the hypothesis. If it is to be shown unequivocally that it is rate of operant responding which determines the behavioral effects of drugs, procedures are needed in which other varibles such as reinforcement frequency are more adequately controlled.