University of Rhode Island DigitalCommons@URI Open Access Dissertations 1980 THE ANXIOMIMETIC PROPERTIES OF PENTYLENETETRAZOL IN THE RAT Gary Terence Shearman University of Rhode Island Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.uri.edu/oa_diss Recommended Citation Shearman, Gary Terence, "THE ANXIOMIMETIC PROPERTIES OF PENTYLENETETRAZOL IN THE RAT" (1980). Open Access Dissertations. Paper 165. https://digitalcommons.uri.edu/oa_diss/165 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by DigitalCommons@URI. It has been accepted for inclusion in Open Access Dissertations by an authorized administrator of DigitalCommons@URI. For more information, please contact
[email protected]. THE ANXIOMIMETIC PROPERTIES OF PENTYLENETETRAZOL IN THE RAT BY GARY TERENCE SHEARMAN A DISSERTATION SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY IN PHARMACEUTICAL SCIENCES (PHARMACOLOGY AND TOXICOLOGY) UNIVERSITY OF RHODE ISLAND 19 80 DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY DISSERT.A.TION OF GARY TERENCE SHEAffiil.AN Approved: Dissertation Cormnittee \\ Major Professor ~~-L_-_._dd__· _... _______ _ -~ar- Dean of the Graduate School UNIVERSITY OF RHODE ISLAND 1980 ABSTRACT Investigation of the biological basis of anxiety is ham pered by the lack of an appropriate animal model for research purposes. There are no known drugs that cause anxiety in laboratory animals. Pentylenetetrazol (PTZ) produces intense anxiety in human volunteers (Rodin, 1958; Rodin and Calhoun, 1970). Therefore, it was the major objective of this disser- tation to test the hypothesis that the discriminative stimu lus produced by PTZ in the rat was related to its anxiogenic action in man. It was also an objective to suggest the neuro- chemical basis for the discriminative stimulus property of PTZ through appropriate drug interactions.