Abstract
Behavioral effects of intraseptal administration of cholinergic agents were analysed in cats pretreated with morphine 15–20 min or 40 min earlier. Drug-induced changes were measured both quantitatively (onset, duration, and frequency of behavioral items) and qualitatively (presence or absence of stereotyped and ritualized behavior patterns). Carbachol and scopolamine given 15–20 min after morphine accelerated and retarded, respectively, the normal development of the morphine syndrome: Carbachol resulted in the display of stereotyped and ritualized patterns, i.e., symptoms characteristic of cats pretreated 30–40 min earlier with morphine, whereas scopolamine reduced the frequency of the behavioral items in comparison with controls, and retarded the onset of stereotyped and ritualized patterns. Carbachol given 40 min after morphine also affected the fully developed morphine syndrome: It increased the frequency of stereotyped and ritualized patterns displayed at that time. This dose-dependent effect, mimicked by arecoline and the combination of acetylcholine and physostigmine, could be antagonized by atropine and scopolamine, which per se had no influence on the stereotyped and ritualized patterns. It is concluded that the degree of cholinergic muscarinic activity within the septal nuclei at least partly determines the genesis of the morphine syndrome in cats. The data are discussed in view of the hypothesis that systemically administered morphine and intraseptally applied cholinergic agents affect the cholinergic septo-hippocampal system in a common way via distinct sites of action at the level of the septal nuclei.
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Megens, A.A.P.H., Cools, A.R. Effects of intraseptal administration of cholinergic agents on morphine-induced behavior of cats. Psychopharmacology 66, 183–188 (1979). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00427628
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00427628