BEHAVIORAL PHARMACOLOGY AND TOXICOLOGY

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The project on behavioral pharmacology and toxicology is aimed at elucidating the neuropharmacological processes involved in abnonmal brain function and the development of techniques to intervene in abnormal brain function through pharmacological manipulations. The studies involve the induction of abnormal behavioral and physiological states through administration of drugs and other manipulations; they attempt to alter behavior and physiological states by pharmacological manipulations. Particular topics of interest are areas known to be associated with the actions of neuroleptic drugs and drug-induced psychoses. These include (1) phenacyclidine, which in humans can induce abnormalities resembling schizophrenia; (2) calcitonin and calcium-channel inhibitors and activators, under investigation because of possible relationships between calcium mechanisms and long-term changes in neuronal function induced by chronic neuroleptics; (3) seizures and other phenomena related to the quisqualate type of glutamate receptors, of particular interest because of the close association between glutamate synapses and dopamine synapses on striatal neurons; and (4) changes in various neuronal systems, particularly excitatory amino acid systems induced by chronic neuroleptic administration. The latter is being investigated to enhance understanding of the mechanisms of neuroleptics' action.