Low-dose nicotine self-administration is reduced in adult male rats naïve to high doses of nicotine: implications for nicotine product standards.

Product standards that greatly reduce the content of nicotine within cigarettes may result in improved public health. The study presented here used an animal model to investigate whether individuals who start smoking after implementation of regulation may be affected differently from current smokers who form the basis of most clinical studies. One group of adult male rats (n = 14/group) acquired nicotine self-administration at a high nicotine dose (60 μg/kg/infusion) before experiencing a reduction to one to three low doses of nicotine (3.75, 7.5, or 15 μg/kg/infusion) or vehicle. Their self-administration behavior at the low doses was compared with a group of adult male rats given the opportunity to acquire nicotine self-administration at one of the same low doses or vehicle (n = 7-14/group). Second, the self-administration behavior of the acquisition group of rats was compared with their own self-administration behavior after experience self-administering a high dose of nicotine. A cocktail of non-nicotine cigarette smoke constituents was included in the vehicle for all rats across all phases of the study. Rats with a history of self-administering a high dose of nicotine had a higher rate of self-administration across the low doses than rats with no history. In addition, the number of earned infusions increased after rats experienced self-administration of a higher dose of nicotine. These data show that low-dose nicotine self-administration is higher after a dose reduction than during acquisition. If a nicotine reduction policy were implemented, then this policy may be especially effective at reducing acquisition of smoking.