Attenuation of effects of phenylethylamine on social and individual behaviour in mice by ethanol pretreatment.

Beta-phenylethylamine (PEA, 10 mg/kg, intraperitoneally) exerts the following behavioural effects in mice: (1) a decrease in the rate and duration of contacts (sniffings), typical of anxiogens, in albino SHR (bred from Swiss) male mice and a decrease in the duration of contacts in C57l/6 mice; (2) a decrease in the duration of grooming in both strains; (3) an increase in locomotion and rearings in long-sleeping C57Bl/6 mice. Pretreatment with ethanol (100 mg/kg, orally) diminished these effects of PEA. It is suggested that the anxiolytic action of ethanol may be related to its antagonism of PEA.