ISSN: 2573-1734
Authors: Huria TR*
This work has encountered a previously unrecognized phenomenon that was very unique to methanol. Different drugs of addiction rather than methanol where tested in this work. Intraperitoneal (IP) injection of different doses of methanol were noted to precipitate rapid and vigorous unidirectional stereotyped circling in mice placed either in open or closed fields suggesting that methanol produced asymmetric striatal activation of dopaminergic functions. The onset of rotation was within 3 min and the duration was dose dependent which lasts for 15.7±1.4% and 27.3±2.7% for the lowest and highest doses respectively. It is significant that 30 min pretreatment with 0.025 mg/kg Apo morphine (dopamine agonist) or 0.025 mg/kg haloperidol (dopamine antagonist) respectively accentuate and attenuate stereotyped circling exhibited by methanol. The rapidity by which this stereotyped behavior took place (3min onset) is quite striking. This would suggest that either methanol per se rather than one of its metabolites is the responsible agent or the production of an active metabolite from the precursor pool must be extremely rapid. The exact mechanism is unknown, but there is one suggestion which is drugs can affect dopaminergic activity in the brain and hence stereotyped behavior such as Apo morphine and haloperidol were found to produce respective accentuation and attenuation in methanol-induced rotational behavior. Thus, it is not a remote possibility that methanol per se or one of its metabolites could either directly or indirectly affect the function of dopamine containing neurons in some areas of the brain (e.g. basal ganglia). To substantiate these possibilities further work is needed involving studies on the influence of methanol on dopamine turnover rate in discrete areas in the brain and to provide clues about the dopamine receptor subtypes (D1&D2) involved.
Keywords: Methanol; Apo morphine; Haloperidol; Experimental animal; Stereotyped circling
