Mutual antagonism of behavioral effects of TRH and thiobarbiturate on an operant task in rhesus monkeys.

Similar excitatory or depressant response rate dependent effects on monkeys responding on a variable interval reinforcement schedule were observed following intravenous administration of either thyrotropin releasing hormone (TRH) or thiobarbiturate. However, these agents were mutally antagonistic when given together even though the response rate altering effects of each agent were in the same direction. These findings establish an additional behavioral effect of exogenously administered TRH in primates and suggest that barbiturates might alter behavior in part through an interaction with brain TRH receptive mechanisms.