Antagonism of metabotropic glutamate 1 receptors attenuates behavioral effects of cocaine and methamphetamine in squirrel monkeys

Within the group I family of metabotropic glutamate receptors (mGluRs), substantial evidence points to a role for mGluR5 mechanisms in cocaine's abuse-related behavioral effects, but less is understood about the contribution of mGluR1, which also belongs to the group I mGluR family. The selective mGluR1 antagonist JNJ16259685 [(3,4-dihydro-2H-pyrano-[2,3-b]quinolin-7-yl)-(cis-4-methoxycyclohexyl)-methanone] was used to investigate the role of mGluR1 in the behavioral effects of cocaine and methamphetamine. In drug discrimination experiments, squirrel monkeys were trained to discriminate cocaine from saline by using a two-lever, food-reinforced operant procedure. JNJ16259685 (0.56 mg/kg) pretreatments significantly attenuated cocaine's discriminative stimulus effects and the cocaine-like discriminative stimulus effects of methamphetamine. In monkeys trained to self-administer cocaine or methamphetamine under a second-order schedule of intravenous drug injection, JNJ16259685 (0.56 mg/kg) significantly reduced drug-reinforced responding, resulting in a downward displacement of dose-response functions. In reinstatement studies, intravenous priming with cocaine accompanied by restoration of a cocaine-paired stimulus reinstated extinguished cocaine-seeking behavior, which was significantly attenuated by JNJ16259685 (0.56 mg/kg). Finally, in experiments involving food rather than drug self-administration, cocaine and methamphetamine increased the rate of responding, and the rate-increasing effects of both psychostimulants were significantly attenuated by JNJ16259685 (0.3 mg/kg). At the doses tested, JNJ16259685 did not significantly suppress food-reinforced behavior (drug discrimination or fixed-interval schedule of food delivery), but did significantly reduce species-typical locomotor activity in observational studies. To the extent that the psychostimulant-antagonist effects of JNJ16259685 are independent of motor function suppression, further research is warranted to investigate other mGluR1 antagonists for potential therapeutic value in psychostimulant abuse.