The abuse-related behavioral effects produced by nitrous oxide (N₂O) gas have been suggested as being unique compared with other abused inhalants. The drug discrimination paradigm in animals can be used to study subjective effects of drugs in humans and to test this hypothesis. The goals of the present experiment were to establish N₂O discrimination in mice and to compare its discriminative...
Nitrous oxide (N2O) is a widely used anesthetic adjunct in dentistry and medicine that is also commonly abused. N2O alters the function of several receptors in vitro and ex vivo, however, the receptors systems underlying its abuse-related intoxicating effects are poorly understood. The goals of this dissertation were to (1) establish N2O as a discriminative stimulus, (2) characterize the...
The FASEB JournalApril 1, 2013Kellianne J. Richardson, Keith L Shelton
The abuse‐related CNS effects of nitrous oxide (N 2 O) are poorly understood. In vitro data suggests that N 2 O alters the function of NMDA and GABA A receptors, amongst others. Our goal was to assess the neurotransmitter systems responsible for producing the intoxicating effects of N 2 O using drug discrimination. Twenty‐four mice were trained to discriminate 10 min of exposure to 60% N 2...