Lysergic acid diethylamide- and mescaline-induced attenuation of the effect of punishment in the rat.

At a dose as low as 1 microgram per kilogram of body weight, lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD) significantly decreased the suppressive effect of electric shock on licking behavior of the rat. Attenuation of punishment was also obtained with mescaline, but neither dimethyltryptamine nor delta9-tetrahydrocannabinol was active in this test. Cyproheptadine and alpha-propyldopacetamide, drugs that interfere with the function of neurons that contain serotonin, have a behavioral effect similar to that of LSD and mescaline, which suggests that the attenuation of punishment produced by these hallucinogens may result from decreased activity of such neurons.