Influence of injected psychoactive drugs on cyclic amp levels in mouse brain and lung following microwave irradiation

Psychoactive drugs were injected into mice, at specified time periods, the animals were sacrificed by exposure to 500 msec irradiation and tissues from lung, cerebral cortex and diencephalon were analyzed for adenosine cyclic 3',5'-monophosphate (cyclic AMP) content. Chlorpromazine, chlorpromazine sulfoxide, p-OH-amphetamine, caffeine, papaverine, pargyline and amitriptyline caused an increase in the cyclic AMP in the cerebral cortex while α-methyl p-tyrosine produced a decrease and reserpine elicited no change. In the diencephalon, cyclic AMP was elevated by reserpine, chlorpromazine and caffeine, depressed by α-methyl p-tyrosine and chlorpromazine sulfoxide while the remaining agents caused no change. The following agents were observed to raise cyclic AMP in pulmonary tissue: reserpine, α-methyl p-tyrosine, papaverine, chlorpromazine, chlorpromazine sulfoxide and amitriptyline. Cyclic nucleotide content in the lung was reduced by amphetamine, p-OH-amphetamine, pargyline and D-lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD). These findings show that in vivo, psychoactive drugs influence steady-state levels of cyclic AMP in a manner that can differ from their action in vitro. Furthermore, the same drug does not affect the cyclic nucleotide levels in an identical manner in different regions within the brain or in the lung.