Evaluation of a procedure to measure the time course of a drug's behavioral action.

The utility of a novel procedure to examine a drug's time course of behavioral action was evaluated. Time- and dose-effect relations for the antiepilepsy drug methsuximide were determined in pigeons during 12-hr overnight sessions through the use of a multiple variable-interval 60-sec extinction (mult VI EXT) schedule of food delivery. The VI 60-sec components were programmed for the first 10 min of each hour and were followed by 50-min EXT components. Methsuximide produced dose-dependent decreases in rate of responding; the higher the dose, the longer the duration of effect. The present procedure appears to be useful for determining effective presession injection intervals and time-effect relations.