Cocaine self-administration increases the
incentive motivational properties of the drug in rats
by
Deroche V, Le Moal M, Piazza PV
Laboratoire de Psychobiologie des Comportements Adaptatifs,
Domaine de Carreire, Bordeaux, France.
Eur J Neurosci 1999 Aug; 11(8):2731-6

ABSTRACT

A progressive increase in the frequency and intensity of drug use is one of the major behavioural phenomena characterizing the development of addiction. The nature of the drug-induced adaptations involved in this escalating drug intake remains unknown. Some theories propose that this escalation is due to a progressive decrease (tolerance) in the reinforcing or incentive effects of the drug. Alternative views posit that with chronic use the reinforcing or incentive effects of drugs increase, by a sensitization or a learning mechanism. In this report, we address the question of whether escalating cocaine intake is paralleled by an increase or a decrease in the reinforcing and incentive effects of the drug. Using the experimental model of intravenous drug self-administration with a within-session dose-response paradigm, we first studied the course of cocaine intake over 14 sessions in rats. After acquisition of cocaine self-administration, cocaine intake progressively increased at each dose tested. Then rats, previously allowed to self-administer cocaine during either six or 29 sessions, were compared in three different tests of the incentive and reinforcing effects of cocaine: cocaine-induced reinstatement of self-administration, cocaine-induced runway and cocaine-induced place conditioning. As compared with rats briefly exposed to cocaine self-administration (six sessions), rats with the longer experience (29 sessions) exhibited a higher intake of cocaine paralleled by a higher responsiveness in the cocaine-induced reinstatement and runway tests. Both groups of rats were similarly sensitive to the rewarding effects of the drug as evaluated by the threshold dose of cocaine inducing place conditioning. Our results demonstrate that escalating cocaine intake is paralleled by an increase in the motivational properties of the drug in the absence of apparent signs of tolerance to the reinforcing or incentive effects of cocaine.

Cocaine
Drug screening
Rats on speedballs
Heroin and cocaine
Cocaine withdrawal
Addiction and reward
Clinical use of cocaine
The neural basis of addiction

Refs
and further reading

HOME
HedWeb
Nootropics
cocaine.wiki
Future Opioids
BLTC Research
MDMA/Ecstasy
Superhapiness?
Utopian Surgery?
The Abolitionist Project
The Hedonistic Imperative
The Reproductive Revolution
Critique of Huxley's Brave New World

The Good Drug Guide
The Responsible Parent's Guide
To Healthy Mood Boosters For All The Family