Search

Rat startle responses to air puffs were monitored in a stabilimeter during the intraventricular infusion of various doses of 5-hydroxytrptamine (5-HT) or the putative hallucinogenic congener of 5-HT, 5-hydroxy-N, N-dimethyltrytamine (5-HDMT) or saline. Qualitativity opposite effects were observed, with 5-HT producing a dose-dependent decrease in responsivity and 5-HDMT increasing the magnitude of startle responses. No specific effects of either compound could be demonstrated on the presumably separable processes of sensitization and habituation. The results are discussed in the context of a central serotonergic system which facilitates behavioral inhibition and which is antagonized by indoleamine hallucinogens.

Tactile startle responding by male Sprague-Dawley rats given 60 presentations of air-puff stimuli (37.5 psi) was measured after the intraperitoneal administration of graded doses of hallucinogens and other psychoactive drugs. Among the drugs tested were the indoleamine-derived compounds, lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD), N,N-dimethyltryptamine and psilocin, and the phenylethylamine-derived compounds, mescaline, 2,5-dimethoxy-4-methylamphetamine and a series of active and inactive congeners of 2,5-dimethoxy-4-methylamphetamine. All of the active phenylethylamines increased startle response magnitudes throughout the test session. This pattern of augmented startle suggests that these drugs increase reactivity. However, none of the indoleamine hallucinogens increased startle responding. Of the nonhallucinogenic drugs tested, only apomorphine increased startle responding, while clonidine significantly decreased it, and amphetamine, chlorimipramine, scopolamine and methysergide had no effect. In additional studies with LSD, it was found that LSD increased the response to only the first stimulus when more intense air-puffs were used (50 psi). Furthermore, when the number of stimuli was increased from 60 to 240 (1 hr) so that appreciable habituation was evident in controls, LSD impaired this habituation. Whereas the response magnitudes of the control group decreased by 70% across the session, the responses of LSD-treated rats decreased by only 32%. These results suggest that LSD and phenylethylamine-derived hallucinogens may differ in their effects on tactile startle responding.

A series of four articles on the "other side" of the brain has been published in this journal by Dr. Joseph Bogen and his colleagues (1, 2, 3, 4). The first three of these are rapidly becoming minor classics for those of us interested in hemispheric specialization. However, the fourth article reports a combination of sociologic and neurologic observations which, in our opinion, are misinterpreted. This misinterpretation stems primarily from the use of inappropriate statistical procedures and the misleading characteristics of a variable which is comprised of a ratio of two other variables (i.e. the A/P ratio). In short, we argue that the sociologic data presented (4) are not consistent with the constant sum model of hemisphericity discussed in that paper. An alternative model is discussed.