Discriminative Stimulus Properties of the Serotonin Uptake Inhibitor Sertraline

Rats (Rattus norvegicus) were trained to discriminate the stimulus properties of the antidepressant serotonin (5-hydroxytryptamine; 5-HT) uptake inhibitor sertraline (10 mg/kg) from saline using the discriminated taste aversion procedure. Three other selective 5-HT uptake inhibitors, fluvoxamine (5.6 and 10.0 mg/kg), fluoxetine (10.0 mg/kg), and paroxetine (10.0 mg/kg), substituted completely for the stimulus properties of sertraline. Selective inhibitors of norepinephrine uptake, desipramine and maprotiline, also substituted for the sertraline stimulus at 18.0 mg/kg. The results of the present study show that rats can be trained to respond to sertraline as a discriminative stimulus and that sertraline generalizes to other 5-HT uptake inhibitors that are members of a class of antidepressant drugs.