Noradrenergic Drugs
Norandrenergic drugs are drugs that influence the areas of the body and nervous system that utilize noradrenaline (or norepinephrine). Norepinephrine is a catecholamine that has many functions, including a hormone and neurotransmitter function.
Norandrenergic drugs when used in isolation have generally not been associated with the development of CPP. For example, desipramine and imipramine (both tricyclic antidepressants) have been demonstrated to have no influence on CPP. Also, neither phenylephrine (an alpha-1 receptor agonist) nor prazosin (an alpha-1 receptor antagonist) produced any effect on CPP.
However, a 2003 study by Lebedev and their colleagues demonstrated that phenamine (a drug which has a similar action to epinephrine) did in fact produce CPP. Also, norepinephrine has been shown to be involved in opiate-influenced CPP. For example, morphine causes an increased amount of norepinephrine leaving the medial prefrontal cortex which has a direct impact on the amount of dopamine leaving the nucleus accumbens. This suggests that norepinephrine plays an important role in developing and maintaining opiate-induced CPP.
Read more about this topic: Conditioned Place Preference, Pharmacological Effects
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