Tolerance to diazepam-induced avoidance depression in mice.

The disrupting action on avoidance responses, exerted by diazepam given during shuttle-box training (5 mg/kg before each session), was abolished by a pretreatment with the drug (5 mg/kg) for five days. Similarly, avoidance depression, produced by diazepam in trained mice, was prevented by a pretreatment with five daily doses and was attenuated by previous administration of three daily injections or even of a single dose of the drug. The results demonstrate that tolerance rapidly develops to diazepam-induced avoidance depression, as to other behavioral actions of benzodiazepines.