Pharmacological characteristics of abnormal behavior induced by harmine with special reference to tremor in mice.

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Characteristics	Animal experimental study Peer reviewed
Population	Mice
Interventions	Harmine oxotremorine atropine dopaminergic drugs antidepressants diazepam p-chlorophenylalanine 5-hydroxytryptophan
Citations	11
Key findings	Harmine produced dose-dependent tremor in mice by all routes of administration, along with scratching, head twitch, and cage biting. The authors argue that a catecholaminergic (particularly dopaminergic) and serotonergic imbalance underlies harmine tremor, and propose harmine tremor as an experimental model for evaluating antiparkinsonism and antidepressant drugs.

Abstract

Harmine, a hallucinogen with potent monoamine oxidase inhibitory properties, induced abnormal behavior, including tremor, scratching, head twitch and cage biting, in the mouse. A dose-dependent tremor was produced by all routes of administration of harmine. Although oxotremorine tremor was markedly suppressed by atropine, harmine tremor was unaffected by cholinergic drugs, remarkably inhibited by dopaminergic drugs, antidepressants and diazepam, mildly diminished by p-chlorophenylalanine, markedly augmented by 5-hydroxytryptophan and mildly increased by alpha-methyl-p-tyrosine. These findings suggest that a catecholaminergic (particularly dopaminergic) and serotonergic system imbalance plays an important role in the manifestation of harmine tremor. In view of these characteristics, harmine tremor may be useful as an effective experimental model for the evaluation of antiparkinsonism drugs, along with oxotremorine tremor because of the different mechanism of occurrence. In addition, harmine tremor appears to be useful in characterizing the properties of antidepressant drugs.

Study at a glance

Abstract

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