[Substance P and the resistance of biological motivations to ethanol]

Ability of the substance P to enhance the tolerance of feeding and defence motivations of ethanol was studied in rabbits. Ethanol led to disintegration of central mechanisms of both feeding and escape responses elicited by a threshold electrical stimulation of lateral and ventromedial hypothalamic centres. Subsequent i.v. administration of the substance P restored the effects of midbrain RF on the motivational centres. The inhibitory effect of the dorsal hippocampus and the facilitatory effect of the midbrain RF on excitability of the lateral hypothalamus, are also restored. The data obtained suggest that the substance P is able to increase a tolerance of the central mechanisms of biological motivations of ethanol.