CHRONIC TREATMENT WITH ANTI-DEPRESSANT DRUGS - POTENTIATION OF APOMORPHINE-INDUCED AGGRESSIVE-BEHAVIOR IN RATS

Chronic (14 days) but not acute treatment with antidepressants (amitriptyline, imipramine, desipramine, clomipramine, mianserin, danitracen, iprindole) potentiated the aggressive behaviour induced by apomorphine (APO) in rats. The APO stereotypy was not changed. A similar potentiation was caused by chronic treatment with phentolamine or thioridazine but not with spiperone or diazepam. In rats treated chronically with amitriptyline the APO-induced fighting was antagonized by phenoxybenzamine or spiperone, and not by metergoline. The results allow us to postulate that the chronic treatment with antidepressants potentiates the APO-induced aggressiveness via the noradrenergic mechanism, i.e., through an enhanced response to the endogenous NA. © 1979.