Author: Le, A.D.; Wang, A.; Harding, S.; Juzytsch, W.; Shaham, Y.
Description: RATIONALE AND OBJECTIVE: Alcohol and tobacco are often co-abused in humans and previous studies found that nicotine increases alcohol consumption in rats. Here, we studied whether nicotine would reinstate alcohol-taking behavior in drug-free rats and whether this effect would be enhanced by prior exposure to nicotine during alcohol self-administration training.
METHODS: Rats were trained to press a lever for alcohol (12% w/v, 1 h/day), and following stable alcohol intake groups of rats ( n=11-12) were given daily vehicle or nicotine (0.2, 0.4 or 0.8 mg/kg, SC) injections just prior to the self-administration sessions for 10 days. Rats were then given 6 days of alcohol self-administration in the absence of nicotine and an additional 5-10 drug-free days during which lever presses were not reinforced (extinction). Subsequently, rats were tested for reinstatement of alcohol seeking following exposure to priming injections of vehicle or nicotine (0.4 mg/kg, SC).
RESULTS: Nicotine increased alcohol self-administration in a dose- and time-dependent manner over the 10-day period. Nicotine also reinstated alcohol seeking after extinction of the alcohol-reinforced behavior, and this effect was strongly enhanced by prior nicotine exposure.
CONCLUSIONS: The present data extend previous studies on the effect of nicotine on alcohol self-administration, and further indicate that nicotine is an effective stimulus for reinstatement of alcohol seeking during drug-free periods.
Subject headings: Alcohol Drinking/prevention & control/psychology; Animals; Behavior, Addictive/chemically induced/prevention & control/psychology; Dose-Response Relationship, Drug; Ethanol/administration & dosage; Male; Nicotine/pharmacology; Rats; Rats, Long-Evans; Reaction Time/drug effects/physiology; Secondary Prevention; Self Administration
Publication year: 2003
Journal or book title: Psychopharmacology
Volume: 168
Issue: 1-2
Pages: 216-221
Find the full text : https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00213-002-1330-9
Find more like this one (cited by): https://scholar.google.com/scholar?cites=7747463038200651957&as_sdt=1000005&sciodt=0,16&hl=en
Type: Journal Article
Serial number: 3004