This study tested the time course of the discriminative stimulus effects of inhibitors of monoamine oxidase (MAO) alone or in combination with cocaine. Male Sprague-Dawley rats were trained to discriminate cocaine (10 mg/kg, i.p.) from saline using a two-lever choice methodology. The nonselective MAO inhibitors tranylcypromine (0.01 to 5 mg/kg) and phenelzine (1 to 25 mg/kg), the MAO-A selective compound clorgyline (1 to 25 mg/kg), and the MAO-B selective compounds pargyline (0.005 to 50 mg/kg) and selegiline (1 to 25 mg/kg) were tested for substitution 15 min or 24 hr following administration, and in combination with 10 mg/kg of cocaine 24 and 48 hr after administration. At 15 min, selegiline fully substituted for the discriminative stimulus effects of cocaine, whereas all other compounds partially substituted. At 24 hr, substitution of cocaine was diminished for all compounds except phenelzine, which produced a greater amount of substitution at 24 hr than at 15 min. When cocaine was administered 24 hr following clorgyline, selegiline, pargyline, and phenelzine, cocaine-appropriate responding was attenuated at intermediate doses of these drugs, whereas the highest doses did not alter cocaine-lever responding. All compounds except selegiline substantially decreased response rate and produced various adverse effects. At 48 hr, the effects of all compounds except phenelzine were markedly reduced. Selectivity for MAO-A or B did not predict the ability to substitute for or attenuate the subjective effects of cocaine. These findings suggest that MAO inhibitors can modulate the discriminative stimulus effects of cocaine for at least 24 hr, and may be useful for treatment of cocaine abuse.