Neville K, McNaughton N
Pharmacol Biochem Behav. 1986 Jun;24(6):1497-502. doi: 10.1016/0091-3057(86)90474-0.
The behavioural effects of melatonin have been attributed to a general reduction in motor activity; interference with memory fixation; a decrease in emotionality; or an anxiolytic action. The present experiments compared the effects of melatonin with an anxiolytic benzodiazepine, chlordiazepoxide (Librium), on a schedule of differential reinforcement of low rates of response (DRL) increasing 'burst' responding and premature responding. No doses of melatonin tested (0.03-8.1 mg/kg, IP) affected performance of well-learned DRL. Both low (0.03 mg/kg) and high (1.0 mg/kg) doses of melatonin impaired acquisition of DRL in a similar manner to chlordiazepoxide (5.0 mg/kg) and to much the same extent. Chlordiazepoxide had its usual effects on both acquisition and performance of DRL. These results show that melatonin shares a subset of the effects of chlordiazepoxide. The nature of the effects favours an 'anxiolytic' hypothesis of melatonin action rather than the other hypotheses so far proposed.
褪黑素的行为效应被认为归因于运动活动的普遍减少、对记忆巩固的干扰、情绪的降低或抗焦虑作用。本实验比较了褪黑素与抗焦虑苯二氮䓬类药物氯氮䓬（利眠宁）对低反应率差异强化（DRL）程序的影响，该程序会增加“爆发”反应和过早反应。所测试的褪黑素剂量（0.03 - 8.1毫克/千克，腹腔注射）均未影响已熟练掌握的DRL表现。低剂量（0.03毫克/千克）和高剂量（1.0毫克/千克）的褪黑素均以与氯氮䓬（5.0毫克/千克）相似的方式且程度相近地损害了DRL的习得。氯氮䓬对DRL的习得和表现均有其通常的作用。这些结果表明，褪黑素具有氯氮䓬的部分效应。这些效应的性质支持褪黑素作用的“抗焦虑”假说，而非迄今提出的其他假说。
