title: Effects of cocaine self-administration on food-reinforced responding using a discrete trial procedure in rats.
abstract: Cocaine addiction has been characterized by a shift from controlled to uncontrolled and compulsive drug use. Using novel self-administration procedures, we attempted to model this transitional phase and characterize the behavioral changes that underlie it. We chose to use food-reinforced responding across the light/dark cycle as an indicator of the degree to which cocaine was disrupting ongoing behavior as a potential measure of dysregulation. Four groups of rats (n=5-6) were given 24-h access to cocaine (1.5 mg/kg/inj) available in 2, 3, 4, or 5 discrete trials/h. All rats were given continuous access to a second lever that resulted in the delivery of a 45 mg food pellet under a fixed ratio 1 schedule. The results showed that under low access conditions (eg 2 discrete trials/h), both food- and cocaine-reinforced responding were diurnally regulated and occurred coincidentally. As access to cocaine was increased, there was a progressive disruption in the diurnal control over both food- and cocaine-maintained responding. High access conditions also produced transient decreases in the total levels of food-reinforced responding. These findings suggest that high access to cocaine under the discrete trial cocaine self-administration procedure produces a transient disruption in the diurnal control over behavior maintained by food and that the level of control (or loss of) may be a useful marker of dysregulation.
authors.affiliation: Department of Physiology and Pharmacology, Wake Forest University School of Medicine, Winston-Salem, NC, USA. wendy.lynch@yale.edu
authors.forename: W J
authors.initials: WJ
authors.lastname: Lynch
authors.forename: D C S
authors.initials: DC
authors.lastname: Roberts
mesh_terms: D000704:Analysis of Variance; D000818:Animals; D016739:Behavior, Addictive / Q000139:chemically induced / Q000523:psychology*; D001522:Behavior, Animal / Q000187:drug effects; D003042:Cocaine / Q000008:administration & dosage* / Q000633:toxicity; D003216:Conditioning, Operant; D003624:Darkness; D018765:Dopamine Uptake Inhibitors / Q000008:administration & dosage* / Q000633:toxicity; D005502:Food; D008027:Light; D008297:Male; D051381:Rats; D017207:Rats, Sprague-Dawley; D012055:Reinforcement Schedule; D012054:Reinforcement, Psychology; D013997:Time Factors
chemical_list: D018765:Dopamine Uptake Inhibitors; D003042:Cocaine