Comparative biochemical and behavioural effects of fencamfamine and dl-amphetamine in rats

Fencamfamine increased locomotion, rearing and sniffing behaviours at 10 mg/kg intraperitoneal doses in rats. Amphetamine increased rearing, sniffing and locomotion behaviours at respectively higher, same and lesser magnitudes than did fencamfamine at equimolar (5 mg/kg) intraperitoneal doses in rats. Forty-five minutes after fencamfamine (10 mg/kg), the levels of homovanillic acid in the tuberculum olfactorium, nucleus accumbens and striatum, and those of dihydroxyphenylacétic acid in accumbens were increased. Dihydroxyphenylacétic levels in tuberculum olfactorium and striatum were not changed. Forty-five minutes after amphetamine (5 mg/kg) the levels of homovanillic acid in tuberculum olfactorium, accumbens and striatum, and those of dihydroxyphenylacétic in accumbens were not changed; dihydroxyphenilacétic levels in tuberculum olfactorium and striatum were decreased. Fencamfamine-induced behavioural changes can be better correlated with neurochemical changes than those elicited by amphetamine.