Abstract
Low doses of benzodiazepines produce state-dependence (StD) of food-rewarded lever pressing in rats, and it has been hypothesized that the changes of memory states that can thus be studied constitute the mechanism whereby benzodiazepines cause their characteristic psychopharmacological actions such as anxiolysis, apparent memory loss and dependence. Non-benzodiazepine CNS agents such as NMDA antagonists also produce StD in this procedure, suggesting that the StD hypothesis of psychopharmacological drug action can be expanded to include agents other than benzodiazepines. For this expansion to be possible, however, it must be shown that the StD mechanism operates in a specific manner. The present experiments examined whether varying the extent of food deprivation affects any of a number of quantitative features of chlordiazepoxide (CDP)-induced StD of food-rewarded lever pressing in rats. The data indicate that the CDP doses required to generate StD in both drug-to-saline and dose-to-dose transfer tests, are considerably lower in relatively sated as opposed to more deprived animals; little or no difference was found in tests assaying saline-to-drug transfer. The data add behavioural to available pharmacological evidence supporting the hypothesis that changes of memory state constitute the mechanism whereby CNS agents such as benzodiazepines and NMDA antagonists cause their characteristic psychopharmacological actions. Some directions for future research are identified to explore further the pharmacological and behavioural specificity of drug-produced StD.
| Original language | English (US) |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 49-55 |
| Number of pages | 7 |
| Journal | Behavioural Pharmacology |
| Volume | 7 |
| Issue number | 1 |
| State | Published - 1996 |
| Externally published | Yes |
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Keywords
- Benzodiazepines
- Chlordiazepoxide
- Learning
- Memory
- Rat
- State-dependence
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Pharmacology
- Neuroscience(all)
Cite this
Behavioural specificity of chlordiazepoxide-produced StD. / Colpaert, F. C.; Koek, Wouter.
In: Behavioural Pharmacology, Vol. 7, No. 1, 1996, p. 49-55.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article
}
TY - JOUR
T1 - Behavioural specificity of chlordiazepoxide-produced StD
AU - Colpaert, F. C.
AU - Koek, Wouter
PY - 1996
Y1 - 1996
N2 - Low doses of benzodiazepines produce state-dependence (StD) of food-rewarded lever pressing in rats, and it has been hypothesized that the changes of memory states that can thus be studied constitute the mechanism whereby benzodiazepines cause their characteristic psychopharmacological actions such as anxiolysis, apparent memory loss and dependence. Non-benzodiazepine CNS agents such as NMDA antagonists also produce StD in this procedure, suggesting that the StD hypothesis of psychopharmacological drug action can be expanded to include agents other than benzodiazepines. For this expansion to be possible, however, it must be shown that the StD mechanism operates in a specific manner. The present experiments examined whether varying the extent of food deprivation affects any of a number of quantitative features of chlordiazepoxide (CDP)-induced StD of food-rewarded lever pressing in rats. The data indicate that the CDP doses required to generate StD in both drug-to-saline and dose-to-dose transfer tests, are considerably lower in relatively sated as opposed to more deprived animals; little or no difference was found in tests assaying saline-to-drug transfer. The data add behavioural to available pharmacological evidence supporting the hypothesis that changes of memory state constitute the mechanism whereby CNS agents such as benzodiazepines and NMDA antagonists cause their characteristic psychopharmacological actions. Some directions for future research are identified to explore further the pharmacological and behavioural specificity of drug-produced StD.
AB - Low doses of benzodiazepines produce state-dependence (StD) of food-rewarded lever pressing in rats, and it has been hypothesized that the changes of memory states that can thus be studied constitute the mechanism whereby benzodiazepines cause their characteristic psychopharmacological actions such as anxiolysis, apparent memory loss and dependence. Non-benzodiazepine CNS agents such as NMDA antagonists also produce StD in this procedure, suggesting that the StD hypothesis of psychopharmacological drug action can be expanded to include agents other than benzodiazepines. For this expansion to be possible, however, it must be shown that the StD mechanism operates in a specific manner. The present experiments examined whether varying the extent of food deprivation affects any of a number of quantitative features of chlordiazepoxide (CDP)-induced StD of food-rewarded lever pressing in rats. The data indicate that the CDP doses required to generate StD in both drug-to-saline and dose-to-dose transfer tests, are considerably lower in relatively sated as opposed to more deprived animals; little or no difference was found in tests assaying saline-to-drug transfer. The data add behavioural to available pharmacological evidence supporting the hypothesis that changes of memory state constitute the mechanism whereby CNS agents such as benzodiazepines and NMDA antagonists cause their characteristic psychopharmacological actions. Some directions for future research are identified to explore further the pharmacological and behavioural specificity of drug-produced StD.
KW - Benzodiazepines
KW - Chlordiazepoxide
KW - Learning
KW - Memory
KW - Rat
KW - State-dependence
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=0030044179&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=0030044179&partnerID=8YFLogxK
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:0030044179
VL - 7
SP - 49
EP - 55
JO - Behavioural Pharmacology
JF - Behavioural Pharmacology
SN - 0955-8810
IS - 1
ER -