The effect of a putative antidepressant, an O2-substituted derivative of barbitone on apomorphine induced hypomotility.

The effects of the chronic administration of barbitone and its O2-substituted isopropyl derivative (O2IB) was studied on the hypomotility induced in rats by the acute administration of a low dose of apomorphine. Neither drug was found to selectively antagonize the hypomotility caused by acute apomorphine administration. No correlation could be found between the behavioural effects of the barbiturates and changes in the concentrations of biogenic amines and GABA in four discrete brain regions. The results of this study do not support the conclusions of previous acute studies in which O2IB has been shown to have an antidepressant profile.