One-way generalization of clonidine to the discriminative stimulus produced by cocaine

Douglas M. Wood, Harbans Lal, Senka Yaden, M. W. Emmett-Oglesby

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

13 Scopus citations

Abstract

Rats were trained to discriminate the stimulus properties of either cocaine or clonidine using a food reinforced two-lever choice paradigm. After training, cocaine was generalized to the cocaine lever in a dose-dependent manner, and clonidine was generalized to the clonidine lever in a dose-dependent manner. Yohimbine, an alpha-2 antagonist, blocked the clonidine stimulus but not the cocaine stimulus. Cocaine was not generalized to the clonidine stimulus; however, clonidine was generalized to the cocaine stimulus, and this generalization was blocked by yohimbine. The one-way generalization of clonidine to cocaine suggests that clonidine has at least two discrete stimulus components: a major component that is not cocaine-like, and a minor component that can be detected by cocaine-trained subjects. In addition, the yohimbine blockade data suggest that both components of the clonidine stimulus are mediated via alpha-2 receptors.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)529-533
Number of pages5
JournalPharmacology, Biochemistry and Behavior
Volume23
Issue number4
DOIs
StatePublished - Oct 1985

Keywords

  • Alpha-2 receptors
  • Clonidine
  • Cocaine
  • Discriminative stimulus
  • Yohimbine

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