The Efficacy of Amoxapine as an Atypical Antipsychotic in an Acute Ketamine-Induced Rat Schizophrenia Model

Ornt, Haley

The Efficacy of Amoxapine as an Atypical Antipsychotic in an Acute Ketamine-Induced Rat Schizophrenia Model

Persistent URL

https://hdl.handle.net/10456/57678

Author(s)

Ornt, Haley

Date Issued

April 3, 2024

Abstract

Poverty is a common issue amongst the schizophrenic population, which can make access to antipsychotic medications difficult. As a result, finding a cost-effective solution via medication, even without insurance, is imperative for the benefit of schizophrenic individuals who would not be able to obtain medications otherwise. Amoxapine is one such option in need of investigation. Amoxapine is typically utilized as a tricyclic antidepressant, however, literature has suggested the possibility of its effectiveness as an antipsychotic. The present study utilized acute ketamine administration as a pharmacological rodent model of schizophrenia. To establish efficacy as an atypical antipsychotic in a rodent model, a medication must treat positive, negative, and cognitive deficits without any extrapyramidal symptoms. Amoxapine would need to mitigate the effects of ketamine on locomotion, working memory, and social activity without causing extrapyramidal symptoms, such as akinesia or catalepsy, in order to be considered an effective atypical antipsychotic. Results found that amoxapine did not mitigate the deficits caused by ketamine administration. The only hypotheses supported were: amoxapine administration did not result in extrapyramidal symptoms and, for a select number of tests, acute ketamine administration was able to produce the proper deficits to suffice as a rodent schizophrenia model

Major

Psychology

Neuroscience

Honors

Neuroscience, 2024

Psychology, 2024

First Reader(s)

Hollerman, Jeffrey R.