Behavioural and neurochemical assessment of salvinorin A abuse potential in the rat.
Psychopharmacology January 1, 2015 Veronica Serra, Liana Fattore, Maria Scherma et al. 26 citations
Salvinorin A, the active hallucinogen in Salvia divinorum, does not sustain stable intravenous self-administration in rats, indicating low abuse potential. Male Lister Hooded and Sprague-Dawley rats were given the drug intravenously for 20 days; neither strain consistently pressed an active lever more than an inactive one, failing to meet the criteria for stable self-administration. Although salvinorin A increased dopamine levels in the nucleus accumbens shell when given systemically (at 40 μg/kg or higher in Lister Hooded rats and 5 μg/kg or higher in Sprague-Dawley rats), direct injection into the ventral tegmental area produced no significant dopamine change in Lister Hooded rats and only brief elevations in Sprague-Dawley rats. Thus, salvinorin A differs from commonly abused drugs: it affects dopamine transmission but cannot sustain self-administration behavior at the doses tested.