A PSYCHO-PHARMACOLOGICAL ANALYSIS OF BEHAVIOUR IN RATS
The Japanese Journal of Pharmacology January 1, 1971 B.d. Gupta, P.c. Dandiya, Mahima Gupta 78 citations
The Open Field Test measures three distinct behaviors—emotional freezing and defecation (driven by autonomic nervous system reactivity), rearing (driven by cortical excitation), and stereotyped ambulation (driven by corpus striatum activity)—each affected differently by drugs. Autonomic depressants reduce freezing; cortical excitants increase rearing; hallucinatory drugs increase ambulation. LSD and iproniazid selectively stimulate ambulation while suppressing rearing and preening. Amphetamine increases rearing while blocking preening and ambulation. Imipramine inhibits preening without affecting ambulation or rearing. This study extends the approach to methyl phenidate, pentylene tetrazol, mescaline, caffeine, and pargyline to draw conclusions about pharmacological manipulation of Open Field performance.