Abstract
Publisher Summary This chapter describes the importance of brain dopamine for the stimulant actions of amphetamine. The antiamphetamine actions of α-methyltyrosine (αMT), an inhibitor of tyrosine hydroxylase, are well documented. It has been reported that DBH inhibitors produce behavioral depression and block the central stimulation produced by amphetamines and related drugs. The behavioral depressant and NE depleting actions of these inhibitors do not appear to be casually related. Intra-peritoneal administration of various DBH inhibitors reduces locomotor activity in rodents and markedly elevates plasma corticosterone and blood glucose concentrations. It is found that blockade of DBH with U-14, 624 did not influence amphetamine-induced stimulation of activity. It is found that because disruption of both NE and D synthesis by αMT blocks d -amphetamine-stimulated activity while disruption of only NE synthesis does not, it appears that the stimulation produced by amphetamine is primarily dependent upon a dopaminergic mechanism. This conclusion, however, is based upon the premise that antiamphetamine properties of αMT are related to the ability of this drug to inhibit tyrosine hydroxylase.
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