Premium
Effects of d‐amphetamine, Org 2766, scopolamine, and physostigmine on repeated acquisition of four‐response chains in rat
Author(s) -
Howard James L.,
Pollard Gerald T.
Publication year - 1983
Publication title -
drug development research
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.582
H-Index - 60
eISSN - 1098-2299
pISSN - 0272-4391
DOI - 10.1002/ddr.430030105
Subject(s) - physostigmine , scopolamine , amphetamine , session (web analytics) , ataxia , pharmacology , sequence (biology) , psychology , anesthesia , medicine , neuroscience , chemistry , acetylcholine , computer science , biochemistry , world wide web , dopamine
Adult rats were trained to emit a different four‐response sequence on three levers for food reinforcement in each daily two‐hour session. Four sequences of putatively equal difficulty were used, with each sequence recurring every fourth session. Within‐session errors declined as a function of practice. Most subjects showed a significant idiosyncratic sequence bias. d‐amphetamine, tested at 0.1–2.0 mg/kg, increased errors as a function of dose. Org 2766 had no effect. Scopolamine and physostigmine, tested at 0.01–1.0 mg/kg, increased errors only at the highest doses, which produced tremor or ataxia. Results were generally consistent with previous results from other species. It was concluded that repeated acquisition in the rat is feasible for behavioral pharmacology and toxicology but that long training times and sequence bias limit its practicality.