Vol. 295, Issue 1, 382-391, October 2000

Pharmacological Characterization of the Discriminative Stimulus Effects of the Potassium Channel Blocker 4-Aminopyridine in Rats

Roxanne Brandsgaard, James E. Barrett and Sharon Rosenzweig-Lipson

Wyeth-Ayerst Research, Princeton, New Jersey

The discriminative stimulus (DS) effects of 4-aminopyridine (4-AP) were evaluated in 36 male Sprague-Dawley rats that were trained to discriminate 4-AP from saline in a standard two-lever food reinforced drug discrimination procedure. 4-AP along with its structural analogs 3-aminopyridine (3-AP), 2-aminopyridine (2-AP), and 2,3-diaminopyridine (2,3-DIAP) produced dose-dependent increases in the percentage of responses on the 4-AP-associated lever with full substitution at one or more doses. 2,6-Diaminopyridine (2,6-DIAP) and 3,4-diaminopyridine (3,4-DIAP) produced dose-dependent increases in the percentage of responses on the 4-AP-associated lever but only partially substituted for 4-AP. Neither 4-dimethylaminopyridine (4-DMAP) nor pyridine substituted for 4-AP. Substitution studies were also conducted with indirect dopamine, norepinephrine, serotonin, and acetylcholine agonists, and -aminobutyric acid A (GABA_A) agonists and antagonists. The norepinephrine reuptake inhibitor tomoxetine, but not nisoxetine or imipramine, produced dose-dependent increases in the percentage of responses on the 4-AP-associated lever and partially substituted for 4-AP. In addition, antagonism studies were conducted using indirect dopamine, norepinephrine, serotonin, acetylcholine antagonists, and GABA_A agonists as pretreatments to the training dose of 4-AP. The benzodiazepine agonists chlordiazepoxide and diazepam dose dependently attenuated the DS effects of 4-AP. The present results demonstrate that the K-channel blocker 4-AP can be trained as a DS in rats and the DS effects of 4-AP are likely mediated through blockade of voltage-dependent K-channels. The results also demonstrate a novel interaction between benzodiazepines and K-channels.