The central action of salbutamol, a beta-agonist with a potential antidepressant activity

The pharmacological profile of salbutamol, an agonist of beta-adrenergic receptors and a potential antidepressant drug, and its effect on the central serotonin system were studied. It was found that salbutamol either had no effect, or, at higher doses, inhibited the spontaneous activity of mice and rats; it did not influence significantly either the produced by amphetamine locomotor stimulation (in mice and rats) or amphetamine stereotype (in rats). Salbutamol while not affecting body temperature of normal mice reversed hypothermia but not ptosis induced by reserpine, and counteracted the hypothermic action of apomorphine in mice. It neither affected the spiperone-induced catalepsy nor was active in the behavioural despair test in rats. Salbutamol had no effect either, on the fenfluramine-induced hyperthermia in rabbits, on the 5-hydroxytryptophan-induced head twitch reaction in mice, on the tryptamine-induced clonic convulsions of forepaw in rats on the flexor reflex in spinal rats, or on the quipazine- or fenfluramine-induced stimulation of this reflex. The above findings indicate that the pharmacological profile of salbutamol resembles that of classical imipramine-like antidepressant drugs to a very small extent and it does not affect the central serotonergic transmission.