A rapid method for evaluating the behavioral effects of phencyclidine-like dissociative anesthetics in mice.
Psychopharmacology January 1, 1991 G E Evoniuk, R P Hertzman, P Skolnick
A simple method detects behavioral effects of dissociative anesthetics like phencyclidine (PCP) and dizolcipine in mice. These drugs, which bind to NMDA-coupled cation channels, caused a dose-related increase in the percentage of mice falling from a circular arena on a 60 cm platform. Other compounds, including competitive NMDA antagonists and sigma-receptor ligands with low PCP receptor affinity, did not produce this behavior. Pretreatment with glycine reduced falls caused by a maximally effective dose of dizolcipine in a dose-dependent manner. This procedure may aid rapid detection of dissociative anesthetics and evaluation of PCP antagonists.