Comparative Metabolism of the Amphetamine Drugs of Dependence in Man and Monkeys

The use of animal models to study drug dependence and tolerance requires that the species used metabolizes the drugs like man, a condition frequently not fulfilled by non-primate species. The metabolic fate of several amphetamine drugs, namely amphetamine, norephedrine, chlorphentermine and phenmetrazine, in the rhesus monkey and the tamarin and two non-primate species has been investigated and compared to that found for man. The findings show that the two primate species metabolize these drugs in a manner similar to that in man.