Drug discrimination in pigeons trained to discriminate among morphine, U50488, a combination of these drugs, and saline

Abstract

This study compared fixed-ratio (FR) and fixed-interval (FI) schedules to investigate the discriminative stimulus properties of μ-opioid and/or κ-opioid receptor agonists. Pigeons were trained to discriminate among morphine (μ agonist), U50488 (κ agonist), the combination, and saline under FR 20-s or FI-300-s schedule. After training, correct-key responding averaged 94.4 (FR) and 66.5% (FI) after administration of training drugs. Dose-response curves were generally quantal under the FR and graded under the FI schedules, but highly variable among subjects under the FI. Under the FR schedule, the dose of naltrexone that blocked morphine's discriminative stimuli also blocked U50488. Combining high doses of morphine with low doses of U50488 produced responding on the morphine key and combining high doses of U50488 with low doses of morphine produced responding on the U50488 key. Combining high doses of both drugs produced responding on the drug-combination key. Increasing d,l-pentazocine doses shifted responding from the saline key to the U50488 key, then to the morphine key, and finally to the drug-combination key. Butorphanol and ethylketocyclazocine produced similar effects, except responding on the morphine key increased before responding on the U50488 key. The four-choice procedure under the FR schedule has the potential for determining the discriminative stimulus effects of mixed agonists.