Repeated-testing of place preference expression for evaluation of anti-craving-drug effects.
In addiction research, the conditioned place preference (CPP) paradigm is a widely used animal model of conditioned reward. Usually, CPP development is studied, while only few studies examine CPP expression. In the present study, the suitability of a schedule allowing repeated testing of CPP expression was evaluated. Two groups of rats were either conditioned with cocaine or morphine then the repeated-testing-schedule was applied. This schedule consisted of four repeated applications of a sequence of drug- (i.e. cocaine or morphine), saline- and anti-craving-drug- (i.e. acamprosate, naloxone, their joint administration or saline as internal control) tests. Methodologically, the repeated-testing-schedule produced stable CPP expression in both groups over 12 subsequent tests. In conclusion, it is suggested as a useful method to study effects of anti-craving-drugs on CPP expression, thereby reducing the overall number of experimental animals. The evaluation of the anti-craving-drug effects revealed that neither acamprosate and naloxone given separately nor their combined administration significantly reduced cocaine- or morphine-CPP expression. Thus, we suggest that these anti-craving-drugs are unlikely to be effective for relapse prevention in cocaine- or morphine-addicts.
Herzig
V
V
Department of Neuropharmacology, Zoological Institute, Faculty of Biology, University of Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany.
Schmidt
W J
WJ
D000077443:Acamprosate; D000427:Alcohol Deterrents; D000701:Analgesics, Opioid / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000009:adverse effects; D000779:Anesthetics, Local / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000009:adverse effects; D000818:Animals; D001522:Behavior, Animal / Q000187:drug effects*; D003042:Cocaine / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000009:adverse effects; D003213:Conditioning, Psychological / Q000187:drug effects*; D004353:Drug Evaluation, Preclinical; D008297:Male; D009020:Morphine / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000009:adverse effects; D009270:Naloxone / Q000008:administration & dosage*; D009292:Narcotic Antagonists / Q000008:administration & dosage*; D009293:Opioid-Related Disorders / Q000188:drug therapy*; D051381:Rats; D017207:Rats, Sprague-Dawley; D013654:Taurine / Q000031:analogs & derivatives
D000427:Alcohol Deterrents; D000701:Analgesics, Opioid; D000779:Anesthetics, Local; D009292:Narcotic Antagonists; D013654:Taurine; D009270:Naloxone; D009020:Morphine; D003042:Cocaine; D000077443:Acamprosate