Characteristics of the ambulation-increasing effect of GBR-12909, a selective dopamine uptake inhibitor, in mice

Behavioral effects of a dopamine uptake inhibitor, GBR-12909 (GBR), were evaluated by ambulatory activity in mice. The single administration of over 10 mg/kg of GBR, i.p. and p.o., significantly increased the ambulatory activity. The repeated administration of GBR, at only 10 mg/kg, produced a reverse tolerance to its ambulation-increasing effect. However, a cross-reverse tolerance was induced between GBR (10 and 20 mg/kg) and methamphetamine (2 mg/kg) in both directions. Furthermore, 5 mg/kg of GBR significantly enhanced the effects of methamphetamine, cocaine, imipramine, morphine, scopolamine and caffeine. R-THBP, a coenzyme of tyrosine hydroxylase, also enhanced the effect of GBR. In contrast, the ambulation-increasing effect of 10 mg/kg of GBR was markedly reduced by haloperidol, chlorpromazine, tetrabenazine, oxypertine, reserpine and alpha-methyl-p-tyrosine. On the Other hand, the effect of GBR was only slightly and/or scarcely modified by apomorphine, caerulein, physostigmine, pilocarpine, N6-(L-2-phenylisopropyl)-adenosine and naloxone. The neurochemical experiment in rats, not in mice, revealed that GBR possessed more dominant action on dopaminergic systems than noradrenergic or serotonergic systems. However, the behavioral characteristics of GBR are similar to those of methamphetamine and cocaine, which possess less selective action than GBR on dopaminergic and noradrenergic systems.