Effects of intrastriatal injections of haloperidol (Dopamine antagonist) and D-amphetamine (Dopamine agonist) on lordosis behaviour were studied in ovariectomized female albino rats, after priming with subcutaneous injections of estrogen and progesterone. The lordosis quotient (LQ) significantly increased after haloperidol, and decreased following D-amphetamine treatment. However, the inhibitor...

Preincubation of rat hypothalamic slices in glucose-free Krebs-Ringer buffer (37 degrees C) resulted in a time-dependent decrease in specific (+)-[3H]amphetamine binding in the crude synaptosomal fraction prepared from these slices. The addition of D-glucose resulted in a dose- and time-dependent stimulation of (+)-[3H]amphetamine binding, whereas incubation with L-glucose, 2-deoxy-D-glucose, o...

The purpose of this study was to examine the anxiety-related effects of acute and repeated amphetamine administration using the elevated plus maze (EPM) and light/dark box tests in mice. D-amphetamine (2 mg/kg ip, 30 min after injection) had a significant anxiogenic effect only in the EPM test, as shown by specific decreases in the percentage of time spent in the open arms as well as in the per...

Rats were trained to turn for water reinforcement and then were given unilateral 6-hydroxydopamine lesions. After lesion, rats showed deficits in trained turning both contra- and ipsilateral to the side of the lesion, with contralateral turning more severely impaired. The lesioned rats were then transplanted with fetal mesencephalic dopamine tissue into striatum. A control group of lesioned rat...

Experience-dependent changes in behavior are thought to involve structural modifications in the nervous system, especially alterations in patterns of synaptic connectivity. Repeated experience with drugs of abuse can result in very long-lasting changes in behavior, including a persistent hypersensitivity (sensitization) to their psychomotor activating and rewarding effects. It was hypothesized,...

The aim of this study was to trace D-amphetamine toxicity in isolated rat hepatocytes and to elucidate a possible involvement of CYP3A in the mechanisms of its toxicity. To this end, male Wistar rats were treated with nifedipine (5 mg kg(-1) i.p., 5 days), a substrate and inducer of CYP3A. Hepatocytes isolated from nifedipine-treated and control rats were incubated with D-amphetamine at a conce...

Previous research in this laboratory has shown that a diet of intermittent excessive sugar consumption produces a state with neurochemical and behavioral similarities to drug dependency. The present study examined whether female rats on various regimens of sugar access would show behavioral cross-sensitization to a low dose of amphetamine. After a 30-min baseline measure of locomotor activity (...

Abstract Introduction Cocaineand amphetamine-regulated transcript peptides have been implicated in the endocrine and autonomic regulation, food intake and anxiety. Anatomical studies demonstrate that cocaineand amphetamine-regulated transcript mRNA and peptides are expressed intensely in the hypothalamo-pituitary-adrenal gland axis and sympatho-adrenal system. In parallel with the anatomical st...

Hair analysis is a reliable tool for detecting long-term exposure to illegal drugs, including amphetaminetype stimulants, over periods from a few weeks to a few months, depending on the length of the hair used for analysis. Between 2000 and 2012, over 600 hair samples were analysed at the Institute for Medical Research and Occupational Health, Croatia (IMROH) for the presence of amphetamine-typ...

BACKGROUND The neurotransmitter norepinephrine has been implicated in psychiatric and neurodegenerative disorders. Examination of synaptic norepinephrine concentrations in the living brain may be possible with positron emission tomography (PET), but has been hampered by the lack of suitable radioligands. METHODS We explored the use of the novel α2C-adrenoceptor antagonist PET tracer [(11)C]OR...