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Acute effects of LSD on rhesus monkey operant test battery performance
D L Frederick1, M P Gillam, S Lensing
1Division of Neurotoxicology, National Center for Toxicological Research/FDA, Jefferson, AR 72079-9502, USA. dfrederick@fdant.nctr.fda.gov
Pharmacology, Biochemistry, and Behavior
|August 1, 1997
Summary
Lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD) acutely impairs rhesus macaque performance on complex cognitive tasks. Time estimation and motivation tasks were most sensitive to LSD
Area of Science:
- Neuroscience
- Psychopharmacology
- Primate Cognition
Background:
- Lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD) is a potent psychoactive substance with complex effects on the central nervous system.
- Understanding the dose-dependent behavioral effects of LSD is crucial for assessing its impact on cognitive functions.
- Rhesus macaques serve as a valuable model for studying the neurobehavioral effects of drugs due to their cognitive similarities to humans.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the acute behavioral effects of varying intravenous doses of LSD in rhesus macaques.
- To assess LSD's impact on specific cognitive domains including time estimation, memory, attention, motivation, learning, and sensory discrimination.
- To determine which cognitive functions are most sensitive to the acute disruptive effects of LSD.
Main Methods:
- Rhesus macaques were administered intravenous LSD at doses ranging from 0.0003 to 0.03 mg/kg.
- Behavioral performance was monitored across several complex tasks modeling time estimation, short-term memory, attention, motivation, learning, and color/position discrimination.
- Key performance metrics included percent task completed, response rate, and accuracy.
Main Results:
- LSD significantly decreased task completion and accuracy in time estimation tasks at doses as low as 0.003 mg/kg.
- Motivation and learning tasks showed decreased response rates at lower doses (0.01 and 0.003 mg/kg, respectively).
- Time estimation and motivation-related tasks demonstrated higher sensitivity to LSD's acute disruptive effects compared to memory, learning, and discrimination tasks.
Conclusions:
- Cognitive functions related to time estimation and motivation in rhesus macaques are particularly vulnerable to acute LSD administration.
- The study highlights differential sensitivity of various cognitive domains to LSD, with implications for understanding its neurobiological mechanisms.
- These findings contribute to the characterization of LSD's behavioral pharmacology in a non-human primate model.