Discriminative stimulus properties of the novel serotonin (5-HT)2C receptor agonist, RO 60-0175:: a pharmacological analysis

Employing a Fixed-Ratio 10, food-reinforced protocol, rats were trained to recognize the discriminative stimulus (DS) properties of the novel, potent, 5-HT2C agonist, Ro 60-0175 (2.5 mg/kg, i.p.). This schedule generated appropriate drug versus vehicle responding after 50 +/- 5 training sessions and Ro 60-0175 elicited full (100%) drug selection with an effective dose(50) (ED50) of 0.6 mg/kg, i.p.. The 5-HT2C receptor agonists, mCPP and MK 212, fully generalized to Ro 60-0175 with ED(50)s of 0.8 and 0.4 mg/kg, s.c., respectively, whereas the preferential 5-HT2B agonist, BW 723C86 (>10.0 mg/kg, s.c.) and the 5-HT2A agonist, DOI (> 2.5 mg/kg, s.c.), were ineffective. The 5-HT2A/2B/2C receptor antagonist, mianserin, dose-dependently blocked the DS properties of Ro 60-0175 with an ED50 of 0.7 mg/kg, s.c. This action was mimicked by the novel, 5-HT2B/2C antagonist, SE 206,553 (ED50 = 0.3 mg/kg, s.c.), whereas the selective 5-HT2A antagonist, MDL 100,907 (> 0.63 mg/kg, s.c.), was ineffective. Further, the selective 5-HT2C antagonist, SE 242,084, dose-dependently and fully blocked drug selection (ED50 = 0.2 mg/kg, i.p.), whereas the selective 5-HT2B antagonist, SE 204,741, was not active (> 0.63 mg/kg, i.p.). In conclusion, these data demonstrate that Ro 60-0175 generates a robust DS and suggest that activation of 5-HT50 receptors is the principal mechanism underlying its DS properties. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.