Buprenorphine and cocaine effects on social behavior of monkeys.

We administered for 2 weeks intramuscular buprenorphine 0.3 mg/kg per day (and in a separate series, its vehicle) to each of 7 male, group-living Macaca fuscata (Japanese Snow Monkeys). Animals received one injection of cocaine 0.75 mg/kg and one of saline (about Days 9 and 14) in each series; after each of these doses ethologic observers recorded for 3 h the frequency of occurrence of 64 separate social, self-care, position and other behaviors. Cocaine alone changed the frequency of many behaviors. Buprenorphine alone only reduced the frequency of eating, yawning and ejaculation. The drugs had no interactive effects on behavior. In a dose reported to suppress monkeys' heroin and cocaine self-administration, buprenorphine showed remarkably few disruptions of normal group behavior. But it neither reversed nor enhanced cocaine's behavioral effects.