Climbing behavior induced by apomorphine in mice: a simple test for the study of dopamine receptors in striatum

Abstract

Mice treated with low doses of apomorphine tend to adopt a vertical position along the walls of their cage. Optimal conditions have been defined to obtain a reliable dose-response relationship. This peculiar behavior appears to be elicited by stimulation of dopamine receptors in the striatum: it is suppressed after coagulation of this structure while it is facilitated when these receptors are made hypersensitive by previous treatments with 6-hydroxy-dopamine or haloperidol; on the other hand, it is not modified by coagulation of the nucleus accumbens. The relative efficacy of various agonists and antagonists of dopamine receptors have been determined on this test. It appears that this stereotyped behavior might represent a convenient mean to assess the stimulation of striatal dopamine receptors in mice.

YKP1447, A Novel Potential Atypical Antipsychotic Agent

“…The results from binding affinities, therefore, indicate that YKP1447 is much safer than currently available antipsychotic drugs. Apomorphine-induced climbing behavior is due to the stimulation of dopamine receptors and has been used as a convenient means to in vivo screen dopamine agonists or antagonists (neuroleptics) and to assess striatal dopamine activity (Protais et al, 1975;Costentin et al, 1976;Park et al, 2003). YKP1447 blocked apomorphine-induced cage climbing behavior of mice when treated both intraperitoneally and orally, with no any hypoactivity.…”

Involvement of a Subpopulation of Neuronal M4Muscarinic Acetylcholine Receptors in the Antipsychotic-like Effects of the M1/M4Preferring Muscarinic Receptor Agonist Xanomeline

“…Climbing behavior was measured using the three-point rating scale of Protais et al (1976). Immediately after an injection of apomorphine (1 or 2 mg/kg), the mice were placed into a cylindrical individual cage (diameter, 14 cm; height, 15 cm; grid-size, 5 ϫ 5 mm) with the top covered by a gray plastic lid and the floor covered by a scant lining of bedding material.…”

Antipsychotic-Like vs Cataleptogenic Actions in Mice of Novel Antipsychotics Having D2 Antagonist and 5-HT1A Agonist Properties

“…Apomorphine-induced sniffing was also blocked in a dose-dependent manner over a similar dose range by all these drugs, with the exception of ziprasidone and sarizotan, which did not block sniffing at the highest dose tested, 40 mg/kg. Activity in this model is predictive of efficacy against the positive symptoms of psychosis (Protais et al, 1976) and demonstrates in vivo antagonist activity at dopamine D 2 receptors of these compounds. A correlation analysis based on affinities at rat striatal D 2 sites shows that the ability of antipsychotics to inhibit apomorphineinduced climbing and sniffing correlated positively with their affinity at rat D 2 receptors.…”