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Changes in Behaviour with Repeated Testing under the Influence of Drugs: Drug-experience Interactions

Abstract

WHEN female rats are injected with a “mixture” of 15 mg/kg of amylobarbitone sodium and 0.75 mg/kg of amphetamine sulphate, and are then placed in a Y-shaped runway, there is a striking increase in their activity, greater than the increases produced by any dose of either drug alone1. This mixture, although containing a greater proportion by weight of barbiturate, has similar effects to the combination used in the commercial preparation ‘Drinamyl’1. When the procedure is repeated on the same rats over many days there is a decline in the hyperactivity produced by the mixture, which stabilizes after the first few tests at a much lower level2.

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PORSOLT, R., JOYCE, D. & SUMMERFIELD, A. Changes in Behaviour with Repeated Testing under the Influence of Drugs: Drug-experience Interactions. Nature 227, 286–287 (1970). https://doi.org/10.1038/227286a0

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/227286a0

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