The mechanism of suppression of shock-induced fighting by chlordiazepoxide.

Chlordiazepoxide (CDP), one of a number of drugs in\u27 the class Ijnown as the benzodiazepines, is known to have central muscle relaxant effects , anticonvulsant effects against electroconvulsive shock and chemical agents, depressive effects on the duration of electrical afterdischarges in the limbic system, and attenuation of fear in avoidance and conflict situations • It also has been found to have a suppressive effect on a number of aggressive behavioral responses. CDP was found to depress mouse killing in rats (Loiselle and Caparell, 1966), to have taming effects on vicious cynomolgus monkeys (Heise and Boff, 1961), to produce calming of septal rats (Horovitz, Furgiuele, Brannick, Burke and Craver, 1963); to reduce shock-induced fighting of mice (Stille, 1962), and to lessen fighting of previously isolated mice (Cole and Wolf, 1966). Reduction of aggressive behavior, then, would seem to be quite eviden

Psychopharmacology drugs, the brain, and behavior

xx, 632 p.; ill.: 27.5 c

Selected Readings HIGHLY RECOMMENDED

COURSE DESCRIPTION (from catalog): A review of drugs that affects nervous system function and behavioral or neural mechanisms that modify these effects. Topics include substance abuse, preclinical and clinical psychopharmacology, learning and memory, behavioral mitigation of drug effects. Meets APA criteria for Level I training in psychopharmacology. COURSE OBJECTIVES: Behavioral pharmacology is the study of the interaction between behavior and drugs that act on the nervous system. The study of psychopharmaceuticals spans many disciplines and can be conducted along any of several levels of analysis, ranging from changes in minute elements of the cell membrane to global issues like the sociology of substance abuse. In behavioral pharmacology and psychopharmacology, we emphasize the actions of drugs on the behaving individual (human or nonhuman), and how the particulars of ongoing behavior can actually influence these actions. In order to understand the behavior of an individual we will draw from the study of neural function, behavioral determinants of action, as well as social influences. In this course we examine behaviorally active drugs, their clinical utility, their actions on the nervous system, experimental approaches to characterizing drugbehavio