Buffalari Deanne M, Marfo Nana Yaa A, Smith Tracy T, Levin Melissa E, Weaver Matthew T, Thiels Edda, Sved Alan F, Donny Eric C
Department of Neuroscience, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA 15260, USA.
Department of Psychology, 455 Langley Hall, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA 15260, USA.
Pharmacol Biochem Behav. 2014 Sep;124:320-5. doi: 10.1016/j.pbb.2014.06.013. Epub 2014 Jun 24.
Nicotine has been shown to enhance the motivational properties of non-nicotine stimuli. This reinforcement-enhancing property of nicotine has the potential to promote the use of other illicit substances as well as maladaptive patterns of food intake. Therefore, the current study aimed to examine whether nicotine enhances preference for contexts paired with cocaine or sucrose utilizing a place conditioning procedure. Separate groups of adult male rats were administered sucrose or cocaine in one of two compartments of a standard CPP chamber on four consecutive days. Preference was then assessed following no injection, a single subcutaneous (s.c.) injection of nicotine, and a s.c. saline injection. The animals preferred the chamber paired with either sucrose or cocaine, as evident from an increased time spent in the paired chamber compared to baseline. Nicotine further increased the time spent in the sucrose- or cocaine-paired chamber, consistent with a reinforcement-enhancement effect. Previous results demonstrate an interaction between nicotine and intake of other drugs or food. The present findings provide an additional mechanism that may underlie these effects and which may have implications for drug dependence and obesity.
已证实尼古丁可增强非尼古丁刺激的激励特性。尼古丁的这种强化增强特性有可能促进其他非法物质的使用以及不良的食物摄入模式。因此，本研究旨在利用位置条件反射程序，检验尼古丁是否会增强对与可卡因或蔗糖配对的环境的偏好。将成年雄性大鼠分成不同组，连续四天在标准条件性位置偏好（CPP）实验箱的两个隔室之一中给予蔗糖或可卡因。然后在不注射、单次皮下注射尼古丁以及皮下注射生理盐水后评估偏好情况。与基线相比，动物在与蔗糖或可卡因配对的隔室中停留时间增加，表明它们偏好该隔室。尼古丁进一步增加了在与蔗糖或可卡因配对的隔室中停留的时间，这与强化增强效应一致。先前的结果表明尼古丁与其他药物或食物的摄入之间存在相互作用。本研究结果提供了一种可能是这些效应基础的额外机制，这可能对药物依赖和肥胖有影响。
