Facilitation of brain stimulation reward by delta 9-tetrahydrocannabinol.
The present experiment explored whether delta 9-tetrahydrocannabinol (delta 9-THC), the psychoactive ingredient in marijuana, shares with other drugs of abuse the ability to facilitate brain stimulation reward acutely, as measured by electrical intracranial self-stimulation (ICSS). Laboratory rats were implanted with stimulation electrodes in the medial forebrain bundle, and trained to stable performance on a self-titrating threshold ICSS paradigm. delta 9-THC, at a dose believed pharmacologically relevant to moderate human use of marijuana, acutely lowered ICSS thresholds, suggesting that marijuana acts on similar CNS hedonic systems to most other drugs of abuse.
Gardner
E L
EL
Department of Psychiatry, Albert Einstein College of Medicine, New York, NY 10461.
Paredes
W
W
Smith
D
D
Donner
A
A
Milling
C
C
Cohen
D
D
Morrison
D
D
D000818:Animals; D001921:Brain / Q000502:physiology*; D013759:Dronabinol / Q000494:pharmacology*; D004558:Electric Stimulation; D008297:Male; D008474:Medial Forebrain Bundle / Q000502:physiology; D011205:Povidone / Q000494:pharmacology; D051381:Rats; D012201:Reward; D012653:Self Stimulation
D013759:Dronabinol; D011205:Povidone