A comparison of locomotor responses to some psychotropic drugs and cerebral receptors in the Acomys cahirinus and the laboratory mouse.

Comparative studies of the laboratory mouse and Acomys cahirinus have shown differences in their motor activity patterns and motor responses to morphine, apomorphine and clonidine. The two species also differed in respect of the density of cerebral alpha 2-adrenergic receptors, but no significant differences between other types of receptors (alpha 1-adrenergic, beta-adrenergic, opiate mu and delta, and spiroperidol binding sites) were found. It is suggested that the high excitability of the Acomys may be related to a deficit in the inhibitory noradrenergic transmission in the central nervous system.