W. McKINNEY, R. Eising, E. Moran
Nov 1, 1971
Citations
0
Influential Citations
41
Citations
Quality indicators
Journal
Diseases of the nervous system
Abstract
Reserpine was administered daily by intubation for 81 days to 3 rhesus monkeys to investigate a possible relationship with depression. Their behavior during the experimental period was compared to their behavior before and after the drug period, as well as to that of a control group of 3 monkeys given water instead of reserpine. Experimental findings were as follows: 1) Reserpine caused significant behavioral changes in the rhesus monkey. These changes included decreases in visual exploration and locomotion, and increases in self-huddling, posturing, and tremor; and 2) the behavioral effects of repeated daily dosage were not cumulative nor was tolerance developed by the drugged monkeys. There was no visible effect 15 hours after each daily drug administration. The behavioral alterations were not detectable more than 15 hours following each daily dose. It was noted that the data were insufficient to justify the conclusion that reserpine administration produced depression in the monkey subjects, even though it did have marked behavioral effects on them.