The effects of amphetamine isomers on rotarod performance

✍ Scribed by Michael C. Gerald; Tribhuwan K. Gupta

• Publisher: Springer
• Year: 1977
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 312 KB
• Volume: 55
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0033-3158
• DOI: 10.1007/bf00432821

✦ Synopsis

The amphetamine isomers impair the rotarod performance of rats in a dose-related manner, with (+)-amphetamine approximately four-times as potent as its (-)-isomer. At a rotation speed of 4 rpm, 60 min after i.p. administration, the TD50 values (mg/kg) were: (+)-amphetamine, 24 (21.9-26.4) and (-)-amphetamine, 96 (76.3-118.4), with the curves not deviating from parallelism. Coadministration of the peripheral cholinesterase inhibitor neostigmine salicylate (0.005 mg/kg) attenuated (+)-amphetamine neurotoxicity [30 (26.4-34.1)]. These results, in conjunction with previously reported effects of the drug on isolated nerve-muscle preparations, suggest that the muscle weakness produced by high doses of amphetamine may result from inhibition of transmission at the neuromuscular junction.