Brain stimulation as the reinforcer in alcohol-saline discrimination.
Male Wistar rats were trained to discriminate intraperitoneal injections of 1 g/kg alcohol from saline injections. The reward that reinforced correct choices was an electrical brain stimulation which the animals self-administered according to a FR10 schedule of bar pressing; the stimulation was given in the postero-lateral hypothalamus. Quantitative generalization experiments revealed a mean ED 50 of 0.39 g/kg. The main advantages of this method using direct intracranial stimulation as the reward would seem to be: (1) quantitative and qualitative generalization experiments can be carried out in non-deprived rats having a normal body weight and (2) the possibility of estimating, in addition to the analysis of their discriminative properties, the effects of drugs on self-stimulation rate.
D000818:Animals; D004193:Discrimination Learning / Q000187:drug effects*; D004305:Dose-Response Relationship, Drug; D004558:Electric Stimulation; D000431:Ethanol / Q000008:administration & dosage*; D007026:Hypothalamic Area, Lateral / Q000187:drug effects*; D007274:Injections, Intraperitoneal; D008297:Male; D051381:Rats; D011919:Rats, Inbred Strains; D012055:Reinforcement Schedule; D012201:Reward; D012653:Self Stimulation / Q000187:drug effects*
D000431:Ethanol