INTRAVENOUS SELF-ADMINISTRATION STUDIES WITH L-DEPRENYL (SELEGILINE) IN MONKEYS

l-Deprenyl and its stereoisomer d-deprenyl did not maintain intravenou s self-administration behavior in rhesus monkeys. In contrast, l-metha mphetamine, the major metabolite of l-deprenyl, as well as the baselin e drug, cocaine, maintained high rates of intravenous self-administrat ion behavior. Treatment with l-deprenyl doses up to 1.0 mg/kg before s elf-administration sessions failed to alter self-administration of eit her cocaine or l-methamphetamine. Thus l-deprenyl did not appear to ha ve cocaine- or methamphetamine-like reinforcing properties in monkeys and was ineffective in altering established patterns of psychomotor-st imulant self-administration behavior. These results support clinical f indings that despite long-term use of l-deprenyl for the treatment of Parkinson's disease by large numbers of patients, no instances of abus e have been documented. l-Deprenyl has recently been suggested as a po tential medication for the treatment of various types of drug abuse, i ncluding cocaine abuse, but its failure to produce selective effects i n decreasing cocaine or methamphetamine self-administration behavior i n the present experiments makes such an application seem unlikely.