title: Apparent absence of nicotine-induced conditioned place preference in rats.
abstract: The conditioned place preference (CPP) paradigm was used in order to assess the reinforcing actions of nicotine in rats. Subjects were tested in "unbiased" two-compartment shuttle boxes, so-called because neither compartment was consistently preferred prior to drug conditioning. In the first experiment, subjects that were initially drug naive showed neither a preference nor an aversion to the compartment that had been paired on four occasions with injection of nicotine (0.2-0.8 mg/kg SC); a similar result occurred in another group given daily injections of nicotine in the home cage prior to the experiment. In a second experiment, nicotine (0.4, 0.8 mg/kg SC) again failed to produce a CPP, whereas marked CPPs were seen in parallel groups of rats tested with either d-amphetamine or methylphenidate. Although nicotine has been reported to produce conditioned place preference, the present results suggest that it is not a robust phenomenon.
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D002755:Choice Behavior / Q000187:drug effects*; D003216:Conditioning, Operant / Q000187:drug effects*; D003913:Dextroamphetamine / Q000494:pharmacology; D008297:Male; D008774:Methylphenidate / Q000494:pharmacology; D009538:Nicotine / Q000494:pharmacology*; D051381:Rats
chemical_list: D008774:Methylphenidate; D009538:Nicotine; D003913:Dextroamphetamine