My research and area of interest is behavioral pharmacology, specifically the discriminative stimulus properties of antipsychotic medications. I have been investigating a medication called amisulpride, an atypical antipsychotic, produced by the French pharmaceutical company Sanofi-Aventis and used in the treatment of schizophrenia and depression. It is not approved for use in the USA but is widely used throughout Europe and Australia. Amisulpride has a distinctive receptor binding profile. My research has demonstrated that the amisulpride stimulus is readily acquired in C57BL/6 mice; and that the drug possesses a unique and robust discriminative stimulus that is dose-dependent, time-dependent and stereoselective and is not shared with other antipsychotic or antidepressant drugs.
