paraChlorophenylalanine potentiates facilitatory effects of mescaline on shuttlebox escape/avoidance in rats
David M. Stoff, Richard Jed Wyatt, J. Christian Gillin
Psychopharmacology January 1, 1976 DOI: 10.1007/bf00427615 via OpenAlex
Summary
AI-generated from the abstractPretreatment with parachlorophenylalanine (pCPA) at 150 mg/kg enhanced the ability of mescaline (39.6 mg/kg) to improve escape and avoidance learning in hooded rats tested in a shuttlebox. This potentiation occurred both during initial learning and in rats that were already poor avoiders. pCPA alone had no effect on behavior. However, rats receiving both pCPA and mescaline later became poor avoiders, unable to maintain good avoidance. pCPA depleted brain levels of serotonin, norepinephrine, and dopamine.
Study at a glance
| Characteristics | Experimental study Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Population | Hooded rats |
| Interventions | parachlorophenylalanine (pCPA) mescaline |
| Dose | 150 mg/kg pCPA, 39.6 mg/kg mescaline |
| Duration | 24 hours pretreatment with pCPA before mescaline; testing during acquisition and in stable pretrained poor avoiders |
| Topics | Mescaline Serotonin |
| Keywords | Avoidance response Dopamine Avoidance learning |
| Citations | 6 |
| Key finding | pCPA pretreatment potentiated mescaline's facilitatory effects on avoidance behavior, but the combination led to long-term poor avoidance performance. |
Abstract
Acute parachlorophenylalanine (pCPA) pretreatment (150 mg/kg, i.p., 24 h beforehand) potentiated facilitatory effects of mescaline (39.6 mg/kg i.p.) on shuttlebox escape/avoidance in hooded rats, tested in two different situations: 1. during aquisition of avoidance behavior (Experiment 1); and 2. in stable pretrained poor avoiders (Experiment 2). pCPA alone did not influence avoidance behavior in either situation. Mescaline, with pCPA pretreatment, may be associated with long-term behavioral effects; all rats treated with this combination were later found to be poor avoiders, unable to achieve a stable baseline of good avoidance. pCPA significantly depleted brain norepinephrine and dopamine, as well as serotonin, measured after testing in the second situation.