Doctoral Dissertations

Date of Award

12-1975

Degree Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy

Major

Psychology

Major Professor

William H. Calhoun

Committee Members

Joel Lubar, Schuyler Huck, Robert Wahler, & Ohmer Milton

Abstract

The purpose of this series of studies was to investigate the interaction of d-amphetamine and amantadine hydrochloride employing serial discrimination reversals with repeated acquisitions. Specifically, the blockade of the effects of d-amphetamine by amantadine hydrochloride was investigated.

In meeting this goal, dose-response curves were determined independently for d-amphetamine and amantadine hydrochloride. The dose-response curve for d-amphetamine indicated that the 0.5 mg/kg dosage provided for optimal discrimination of SDR, while dosages of 1.0 mg/kg and 2.0 mg/kg proved to be disruptive. The experiments investigating amantadine hydrochloride indicated that dosages above 10 mg/kg were detrimental to the discrimination task, while dosages below 10 mg/kg seemed to have negligible effect.

The analysis of the final experiment, in which amantadine hydrochloride was given as a pretreatment 90 minutes before d-amphetamine treatment, indicated that amantadine hydrochloride did not block the effects of d-amphetamine on learning. Rather, the interaction of the two drugs appears to be synergistic in nature rather than inhibitory.

Download
Files over 3MB may be slow to open. For best results, right-click and select "save as..."

Included in

Psychology Commons

Share

COinS