The effect of quipazine and LSD on monoamines in the rat striatum.

Rats given quipazine (5 mg/kg) or LSD (0.05 mg/kg), were decapitated at the time of maximum of behavioral effect of drugs (head twitches), resp. 30 and 15 min, or when the behavioral effects disappeared (resp. 60 and 30 min), and concentrations of dopamine (DA), noradrenaline (NA), serotonin (5HT) and 5-hydroxyindole-3-acetic acid (5-HIAA) were assayed in the striatum. Quipazine significantly elevated the DA level at both periods tested. LSD at the peak of its action depressed the level of 5-HIAA, and in the next period produced a significant depression of striatal levels of NA, 5HT and 5-HIAA.