50-kHz calls in rats: effects of MDMA and the 5-HT(1A) receptor agonist 8-OH-DPAT

In recent years, 50-kHz ultrasonic vocalizations of laboratory rats have become increasingly important behavioral measures in research on emotion and motivation, since these calls may help to study appetitive subjective states, for example in relation to addiction. Among others, 50-kHz calls occur when rats experience or expect rewards, including drugs of abuse, and it is assumed that these calls depend on dopamine function, especially in the meso-limbic system. One established means to induce 50-kHz calls is to challenge rats with d-amphetamine, a psychomotor stimulant, which acts largely by boosting dopamine and noradrenaline function in the brain. In a 1st experiment, we studied whether another psycho-stimulatory amphetamine, namely the derivative 3,4-methylene-dioxymethamphetamine (MDMA, Ecstasy), could also enhance 50-kHz calls by using an activity box and testing conditions, which had previously been found to be appropriate in case of d-amphetamine. In support of previous work, we found that MDMA (2.5, 5, 10 mg/kg, ip) dose-dependently increased locomotion and center time, together with decreases in rearing activity, but the drug did not elicit 50-kHz calls. Assuming that this lack of effect is due to the drug's substantial pro-serotonergic effects in the brain, which may inhibit 50-kHz calls, we performed a 2nd experiment where we tested the serotonin 5-HT_1A receptor agonist 8-hydroxy-2-tetralin (8-OH-DPAT; 0.05, 0.5, 2.5 mg/kg, ip). This drug dose-dependently stimulates serotonin autoreceptors and heteroreceptors, can act in a psycho-stimulatory way and can enhance dopamine function. In the activity box, 8-OH-DPAT increased locomotor activity (0.5, 2.5 mg/kg) and decreased rearing (2.5 mg/kg); that is, the drug seemed to share some psycho-stimulatory effects with MDMA. Unlike MDMA, 8-OH-DPAT enhanced 50-kHz calls in a dose-dependent way, namely only with the 0.5 mg/kg dose. These results are discussed with respect to their possible neurochemical mechanisms, especially on 5-HT and dopamine in the brain.