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Comparison of the behavioral depressant effects of biogenic amine depleting and neuroleptic agents following various 6-hydroxydopamine treatments

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Abstract

The effects of prior catecholamine reductions produced by 6-hydroxydopamine on the behavioral depressant effects of catecholamine depleting and neuroleptic drugs were examined using a continuously reinforced bar-press response. In spite of large depletions, 6-hydroxydopamine treated rats showed no deficits in performance. Similarly, animals preferentially depleted of norepinephrine or dopamine showed no deficit in this task. When α-methyltyrosine or reserpine were administered at a dose which had minimal effect on responding in control animals, the 6-hydroxydopamine group in which both amines were reduced and the group preferentially depleted of dopamine showed severe deficits in bar-press responding. Responding in rats preferentially depleted of norepinephrine was slightly reduced but not to the extent observed in animals depleted of dopamine. Administration of the dopamine-Β-hydroxylase inhibitor, U-14,624, depressed responding but did not produce differential effects which correlated with brain norepinephrine concentration in the 6-hydroxydopamine-treated groups. Furthermore, the behavioral depression produced after treatment with chlorpromazine, haloperidol, and pimozide was not altered by any of the 6-hydroxydopamine treatments. These findings provide further evidence for the view that dopamine depletion plays a major role in the behavioral depressant effects of α-methyltyrosine and reserpine, but do not eliminate a role for brain norepinephrine.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Departments of Pharmacology, Psychiatry and Anatomy, Biological Sciences Research Center, Child Development Institute, University of North Carolina, School of Medicine, 27514, Chapel Hill, North Carolina

    Barrett R. Cooper, Lester D. Grant & George R. Breese

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  1. Barrett R. Cooper
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  2. Lester D. Grant
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  3. George R. Breese
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Cooper, B.R., Grant, L.D. & Breese, G.R. Comparison of the behavioral depressant effects of biogenic amine depleting and neuroleptic agents following various 6-hydroxydopamine treatments. Psychopharmacologia 31, 95–109 (1973). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00419810

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