THE EFFECT OF PHENCYCLIDINE AND KETAMINE ON SCHEDULE-CONTROLLED BEHAVIOR IN THE PIGEOW’2

WENGER, GALEN R.: The effect of phencyclidine and ketamine on schedule-con-trolled behavior in the pigeon. J. Pharmacol. Exp. Ther. 196: 172-179, 1976. Pigeons were trained under a multiple schedule of food presentation with alternating 30-response fixed-ratio (FR..30) and 10-minute fixed-interval (Fl-b) components. Aye-rage rates of responding were 2.9 and 0.55 responses/sec, respectively. Both phen-cyclidine (0.03-3.0 mg/kg i.m.) and ketamine (0.1-30.0 mg/kg i.m.) increased response rates at low doses while decreasing response rates at high doses during the Fl-b com-ponent. Only a dose-related decrease in response rates was seen in the FR-30 compo-nent with both phencyclidine and ketamine. In individual birds, the maximum rate in-creases in the Fl-b component ranged from 110 % to 163 % of the control rate. The rate increases in the Fl-b component depended on the control rate of responding. The effects of phencyclidine and ketamine were qualitatively similar to d-amphetamine (0.1-10 mg/kg i.m.). Phencyclidine hydrochloride (PCD) and ke-tamine hydrochloride (KT) can produce a state permitting surgical operations in a wide variety of species (Chen et a!., 1959, 1966; Domino et a!., 1965). PCD and KT increase blood pressure, have analgesic properties and do not depress respiration, features that may offer advantages over commonly used general anesthetic agents (Domino et a!., 1965; Chen et a!., 1959, 1965), but both produce severe disorientation and alterations of mood and affect on emergence from anesthesia (Domino et a!., 1965; Pender