DOSE-DEPENDENT EFFECTS OF CHRONIC AMPHETAMINE ADMINISTRATION IN LOCALCEREBRAL GLUCOSE-UTILIZATION IN RAT

The daily dose of amphetamine pretreatment may affect the development of behavioral-sensitized patterns in rodents and amphetamine psychosis in humans. This experiment investigated the regional cerebral metabol ic changes in rats after pretreatment with different doses of amphetam ine by the 2-[C-14]deoxyglucose method. Rates of local cerebral glucos e utilization were examined in 37 regions of the rat brain. The result showed generally maximal metabolic augmentation in the 5.0 mg/kg grou p instead of in the 1.0 or the 10.0 mg/kg groups. Behavioral testing u sing motor activity cages in rats with the same regimen found no diffe rence among groups. The findings demonstrate that there might be a win dow effect by daily amphetamine dose on the development of drug depend ence and amphetamine psychosis. It was suggested that the 2-[C-14]deox yglucose method could be used for further study of animal models of am phetamine psychosis.