Basis of phencyclidine's ability to decrease the synaptosomal accumulation of 3H-catecholamines.

Mixed cortical and hypothalamic synaptosomes and striatal synaptosomes were allowed to accumulate 3H-norepinephrine and 3H-dopamine, respectively, for 5 min in the absence and presence of phencyclidine. The results indicate that phencyclidine probably decreased the accumulation of 3H-norepinephrine into mixed cortical and hypothalamic synaptosomes by only blocking the uptake of the 3H-amine. On the other hand, part of the decrease in accumulation of 3H-dopamine elicited by 10 muM of PCP was probably caused by PCP releasing previously accumulated 3H-dopamine.