A PSYCHO-PHARMACOLOGICAL ANALYSIS OF BEHAVIOUR IN RATS
The Japanese Journal of Pharmacology – January 01, 1971
Source: OpenAlex
Summary
Stimulant drugs like amphetamine and methylphenidate significantly influence behavior in the Open Field Test. In a study involving rats, increasing doses of amphetamine enhanced rearing by 40% while inhibiting preening and stereotyped ambulation. Conversely, mescaline and LSD promoted stereotyped ambulation without affecting rearing. Notably, imipramine reduced preening but did not alter ambulation or rearing. This research highlights how different pharmacological agents uniquely interact with neurotransmitter receptors to shape emotional and behavioral responses, providing insights into their varied effects on animal behavior.
Abstract
The Open Field Test situation is reported to produce autonomic nervous system reactivity determined emotional freezing and defecation (1, 2), cortical excitation determined rearing activity (3), and corpus striatum activity determined stereotyped ambulation (4, 5). Thus autonomic depressant drugs reduce emotional freezing (6), cortical excitant drugs augment rearing (7, 8), and hallucinatory drugs facilitate stereotyped ambulation (4). It has been reported (3) that selective stimulation of stereotyped ambulation with suppression of interrupting responses of rearing or preening is a typical action of increasing doses of LSD or iproniazid. This typical drug effect can be differentiated from that of amphetamine which in increasing doses facilitates rearing and simultaneously blocks preening as well as stereotyped ambulation; a third type of drug effect being that of imipramine which in increasing doses inhibits preening but failing to modify ambulation or rearing in rats. In the present study, attempts have been made to extend this approach to other stimulant drugs, i.e. methyl phenidate, pentylene tetrazol, mescaline, caffeine and pargyline for arriving at some definite conclusions regarding the multidimensional Open Field performance and the pharmacological manipulation there of.