The pharmacological profile of
salbutamol, an agonist of
beta-adrenergic receptors and a potential
antidepressant drug, and its effect on the central
serotonin system were studied. It was found that
salbutamol either had no effect, or, at higher doses, inhibited the spontaneous activity of mice and rats; it did not influence significantly either the produced by
amphetamine locomotor stimulation (in mice and rats) or
amphetamine stereotype (in rats).
Salbutamol while not affecting body temperature of normal mice reversed
hypothermia but not ptosis induced by
reserpine, and counteracted the hypothermic action of
apomorphine in mice. It neither affected the
spiperone-induced
catalepsy nor was active in the behavioural despair test in rats.
Salbutamol had no effect either, on the
fenfluramine-
induced hyperthermia in rabbits, on the 5-hydroxytryptophan-induced head twitch reaction in mice, on the
tryptamine-induced clonic convulsions of forepaw in rats on the flexor reflex in spinal rats, or on the
quipazine- or
fenfluramine-induced stimulation of this reflex. The above findings indicate that the pharmacological profile of
salbutamol resembles that of classical
imipramine-like
antidepressant drugs to a very small extent and it does not affect the central serotonergic transmission.