Nicotine and Metyrapone Pharmacology

The following compounds were tested: (−) nicotine hydrogen tartrate (0.05, 0.1, 0.2 and 0.5 mg/kg, Sigma-Aldrich, St. Louis, MO, USA), and metyrapone (50 mg/kg, Tocris Bioscience, UK). Drugs were dissolved in saline solution (0.9 % NaCl). Nicotine was administered subcutaneously (s.c.) whereas metyrapone was administered intraperitoneally (i.p.) at a volume of 10 ml/kg. Drug doses refer to the salt form. The pH of the nicotine solution was adjusted to 7.0. Fresh drug solutions were prepared on each day of experimentation. Control groups received saline injections of the same volume and via the same route of administration.
The range of doses of drugs was chosen based on literature data [22 (link), 23 (link)], our recently published articles [21 (link), 24 (link)] and preliminary studies.