Psychopharmacology 2008-05-01

Discriminative stimulus effects of tiagabine and related GABAergic drugs in rats.

L M McDonald, W F Sheppard, S M Staveley, B Sohal, F D Tattersall, P H Hutson

Index: Psychopharmacology 197(4) , 591-600, (2008)

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Abstract

Tiagabine is an anticonvulsant drug which may also have sleep-enhancing properties. It acts by inhibiting reuptake at the gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA) transporter (GAT-1).The aim of the study was to determine whether tiagabine acted as a discriminative stimulus and, if so, whether other GABAergic compounds would generalise to it.Rats were trained to discriminate tiagabine (30 mg/kg p.o.) from vehicle, and generalisation to drugs that modulate GABA was assessed.Gaboxadol (5-20 mg/kg p.o.), a selective extrasynaptic GABA A agonist, generalised to tiagabine, although the extent of the generalisation was inconclusive. Indiplon (1 mg/kg p.o.), a benzodiazepine-like hypnotic, also partially generalised to tiagabine, although zolpidem and S-zopiclone did not. Baclofen, a GABA B receptor agonist, and gabapentin, which increases synaptic GABA, did not generalise to tiagabine. (+)-Bicuculline (3 mg/kg i.p.), a GABA A receptor antagonist, blocked the tiagabine cue, but the less brain-penetrant salt form, bicuculline methochloride, had no effect.These data suggest that tiagabine generates a discriminative stimulus in rats, and provides a central GABA-mediated cue, but is distinct from the other GABAergic compounds tested.