AI Article Synopsis
- The study investigated how the benzodiazepine triazolam and the neuroactive steroid pregnanolone interact when combined, looking specifically at their impact on conflict behavior and drug self-administration in rhesus monkeys.
- Both triazolam and pregnanolone were found to decrease nonsuppressed responding rates, but only triazolam consistently increased suppressed responding, indicating it had a stronger antisuppression effect.
- The combination of triazolam and pregnanolone produced either additive or enhanced effects on suppressed responding based on their proportions, suggesting that using them together might have better anxiety-relieving benefits while potentially lowering abuse risks compared to using either drug by itself.
Article Abstract
Combinations of positive modulators of benzodiazepine and neuroactive steroid sites on GABA(A) receptors have been shown to act in an additive or supra-additive manner depending on the endpoint under study, but they have not been assessed on experimentally induced conflict or drug self-administration. The present study examined the interactive effects of the benzodiazepine triazolam and the neuroactive steroid pregnanolone in a rhesus monkey conflict procedure (a model of anxiolysis) and on a progressive-ratio schedule of drug self-administration (a model of abuse potential). Both triazolam and pregnanolone decreased rates of nonsuppressed responding, whereas only triazolam consistently increased rates of suppressed responding (i.e., had an anticonflict effect). Fixed-ratio mixtures of triazolam and pregnanolone also decreased rates of nonsuppressed responding and did so in an additive manner. In contrast, mixtures of triazolam and pregnanolone produced either additive or supra-additive rate-increasing effects on suppressed responding, depending on the proportion of drugs in the mixture. Both triazolam and pregnanolone were self-administered significantly, and triazolam and pregnanolone mixtures had either proportion-dependent additive or infra-additive reinforcing effects. These results suggest that combinations of triazolam and pregnanolone may have enhanced anxiolytic effects with reduced behavioral disruption and abuse potential compared with either drug alone.
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| http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3101007 | PMC |
| http://dx.doi.org/10.1124/jpet.111.180422 | DOI Listing |
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Article Synopsis
- The study investigated how the benzodiazepine triazolam and the neuroactive steroid pregnanolone interact when combined, looking specifically at their impact on conflict behavior and drug self-administration in rhesus monkeys.
- Both triazolam and pregnanolone were found to decrease nonsuppressed responding rates, but only triazolam consistently increased suppressed responding, indicating it had a stronger antisuppression effect.
- The combination of triazolam and pregnanolone produced either additive or enhanced effects on suppressed responding based on their proportions, suggesting that using them together might have better anxiety-relieving benefits while potentially lowering abuse risks compared to using either drug by itself.
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