Effect of Amobarbital Administered at Various Stages of Avoidance Response Acquisition

Abstract

In order to study the effects of amobarbital at various stages during avoidance acquisition, rats were injected with 20 mg/kg of the drug or with a placebo at the beginning of training or after four or eight days of training. As in previous studies, amobarbital facilitated CAR emission when given from the beginning of training. However, injections of the same drug at the same dosage level had no demonstrable effect on CAR emission after either four or eight days of training under placebo. Results very clearly indicated that a prior training period grossly alters the effect of the drug on avoidance behavior.