Intermittent administration of a moderate dose of a psycho-stimulant, such as amphetamine, produces a series of states. These include a psychomotor-stimulant state that is present during the first several hours post-administration and an acute withdrawal state that is present 18 to 24 hours post-administration. I use several approaches to study these states. I use changes in several behavioral measures, including activity and food intake, to characterize these states and to infer whether different symptoms of acute withdrawal are coordinated by a common mechanism. I use a behavioral pharmacological approach to see which receptor changes mediate these states. I use a molecular approach to see whether changes in gene expression in the dopaminergic system are correlated with changes in state.

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