Behavioral effects of quipazine in the cat

Abstract

Administration of quipazine to cats elicits a number of behaviors, such as limb flicking, abortive grooming, investigatory behavior and hallucinatory-like behavior, which we have previously proposed as an animal behavioral model for studying the actions of LSD and related hallucinogens. While recent studies have indicated that these model behaviors may not be totally specific for hallucinogenic drugs, the model can still be useful for studying drug action. Quipazine (0.5–5.0 mg/kg i.p.) produced significant increases in limb flicking, abortive grooming, investigatory behavior, hallucinatory-like behavior, grooming, head and body shakes, staring and yawning. These behavioral changes persisted for 1–6 h, depending on the dose of quipazine employed. Administration of quipazine (5.0 mg/kg per day) for 5 consecutive days produced no significant tolerance effect on any of these model behaviors. These quipazine induced behavioral changes were potentiated by pretreatment with apomorphine, and partially blocked by pretreatment with haloperidol. Quipazine-induced behavioral changes were potentiated by prior serotonin depletion with p-chlorophenylalanine, and completely blocked by pretreatment with a monoamine oxidase inhibitor or the serotonin precursor, L-5-hydroxytryptophan. These quipazine-induced behavioral changes were also blocked by pretreatment with the serotonin receptor blockers, cinnanserin, methysergide or cyproheptadine. The mechanism of action of quipazine, as well as the neuropharmacology of the limb flick model, is discussed in the context of these studies with serotonergic and dopaminergic drugs.