Abstract
Phencyclidine (PCP), a psychotomimetic drug of abuse, produces mental changes and manifestations in humans which are reminiscent of schizophrenia, though the mechanism of these actions remains unknown. We report here a biphasic time course of PCP action on regional cerebral glucose metabolism extending over 48 h. A single dose of PCP (8.6 mg/kg) produces an initial increase in glucose metabolism (at 3 h) and a later decrease in glucose metabolism (at 24 h) without a return to baseline until 48 h. A single lower dose of PCP (0.86 mg/kg), a dose which is considered selective for action at the NMDA-PCP receptor, produces no early metabolic change (at 3 h), but replicates the regional hypometabolism albeit less intense at 24 h. The delayed cerebral hypometabolism does not appear to be related to PCP-induced intracellular vacuolization, seen in the retrosplenial cortex. These metabolic changes may be associated with the psychotomimetic effects of PCP and thus may be relevant to psychosis in humans.
Original language | English (US) |
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Pages (from-to) | 7-15 |
Number of pages | 9 |
Journal | European Journal of Pharmacology |
Volume | 241 |
Issue number | 1 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - Sep 7 1993 |
Keywords
- Glucose metabolism
- Histopathology
- Limbic system
- Phencyclidine
- Psychosis
- Schizophrenia
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Pharmacology