Limited stimulus generalization between △9-THC and diazepam in pigeons and gerbils

✍ Scribed by Torbjörn U. C. Järbe; Arto J. Hiltunen

• Book ID: 104651909
• Publisher: Springer
• Year: 1988
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 448 KB
• Volume: 94
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0033-3158
• DOI: 10.1007/bf00174684

✦ Synopsis

Pigeons trained to discriminate between the presence and absence of A9-THC (0.56 mg/kg, IM, intramuscularly) were tested with diazepam (5.6-30 mg/kg), administered IG (intragastrically), and were found to generalize the response associated with the THC training to the diazepare treatment only to a limited extent. Two groups of gerbils trained to discriminate between the presence and absence of IP (intraperitoneally) injected benzodiazepine agonists (5.6 mg/kg of diazepam and Ro 11-3128, reslxxztively) generally did not generalize the drug response to IP administered THC (5.6 and 17.5 mg/kg). In addition, substitution testing with the dopamine autoreceptor blocker (+)-3PPP yielded non-drug responding in the pigeons. Hence neither proposed structural similarity between 3-PPP and THC, nor purported anxiolytic activity by 3-PPP (see Introduction) matched the THC-induced stimulus effects. The data are discussed with reference to the specificity of the THC cue or stimulus.