Pharmacological characterization of the discriminative stimulus properties of the dopamine D1 agonist, SKF 81297

A range of selective dopamine D1 and D2 receptor agonists and antagonists was used to characterize to the discriminative stimuli produced by d-amphetamine (0.5mg/kg) and the D1 agonists SKF 81297 (0.1mg/kg). In rats trained to discriminate d-amphetamine (0.5mg/kg) from saline, d-amphetamine produced a dose-related increase in per cent drug lever responding, and SKF 81297 did not show any d-amphetamine-like discriminative stimulus effects; neither did SKF 81297 potentiate nor antagonize the d-amphetamine discriminative stimulus. In rats trained to discriminate SKF 81297 (0.1mg/kg) from saline, SKF 81297 produced a dose-related increase in per cent drug lever responding, and SKF 38393 and SKF 83565 elicited full SKF 81297-like effects despite the fact that these compounds have widely differing efficacies for stimulating adenylate cyclase. SKF 81297 had a 25-fold greater potency than SKF 38393 in this assay. The D2 agonists, PHNO and ropinirole, did not display any SKF 81297-like discriminative stimulus effects. The SKF 81297 discriminative stimulus was completely blocked by the D1 antagonist SCH 23390 but was not blocked by the D2 antagonist BRL 34778.