Ovarian hormones were well documented to modulate the dopamine release in the central dopaminergic systems. The dopamine-releasing effects in the nucleus accumbens, a major target of the mesolimbicortical dopaminergic system, were closely associated with the reinforcing effects of two psychomotor stimulants, cocaine and methamphetamine. This study aimed to examine the sex differences in the cocaine- and methamphetamine-reinforcing behavior, conditioned place preference. In addition, the modulating effects of estradiol and progesterone on methamphetamine-induced conditioned place preference were investigated in both sexes of adult gonadectomized mice. There was no sex difference in the sensitivity to the cocaine (5 mg/kg)-induced conditioned place preference. However, female mice exhibited a more potent methamphetamine (1 mg/kg)-induced conditioned place preference than did male mice. Moreover, pretreatment with estradiol for two consecutive days before the beginning of the conditioning and throughout the four daily conditionings (0.47 microg/day for totally six days) effectively facilitated methamphetamine-induced conditioned place preference in gonadectomized female mice, but not in gonadectomized male mice. Progesterone, under a similar treatment regimen (0.47 microg/day for six consecutive days), did not alter the methamphetamine-induced conditioned place preference in either sex of gonadectomized mice. Taken together, we conclude that the facilitating effects of estradiol on methamphetamine-induced conditioned place preference could be sex-dependent with an eminent sensitivity associated with the adult female mice.
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Title:
Effects of test conditions on the outcome of place conditioning with morphine and naltrexone in mice.
URI:
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/?term=9952035
Provider Org:
Language Code:
en-us
Document:
Drug administration during test trials can increase the expression of place conditioning, offering an opportunity to determine the specificity of this enhanced response. Prior to training, Swiss-Webster mice spent similar durations in each of the distinctive compartments of a two-compartment box during three 900-s tests. During a 4-day conditioning period, daily injections of morphine (5-20 mg/kg, SC) or vehicle were differentially paired with one of two compartments of the box using an unbiased place conditioning procedure. Post-conditioning tests were conducted 2 and 3 days after the last conditioning day. Mice pre-treated during post-conditioning tests with vehicle did not show significant preference for the morphine-paired compartment when conditioned with morphine. Pretreatment with morphine (2.5-30 mg/kg, SC) led to a dose-dependent increase in time spent in the morphine-paired compartment. Post-conditioning tests in other groups of mice were conducted with heroin (0.1-3 mg/kg), fentanyl (0.01-0.3 mg/kg), cocaine (10-30 mg/kg) and pentobarbital (10-30 mg/kg), and results suggested that none of the tested drugs facilitated the expression of the morphine-conditioned place preference. In another experiment, naltrexone (0.1-10 mg/kg, SC) was administered as the conditioning drug. When tested with naltrexone (0.1-10 mg/kg), there was a dose-dependent avoidance of the naltrexone-paired compartment. Overall, the present data indicated that: (1) failure to exhibit place preference or place aversion when tested in a drug-free state does not imply the failure of conditioning procedure; and (2) effects of the morphine cue reinstatement during the post-conditioning tests appeared to be related to the unique pharmacological profile of the morphine stimulus.
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Title:
Assessment of Cocaine-induced Behavioral Sensitization and Conditioned Place Preference in Mice.
It is thought that rewarding experiences with drugs create strong contextual associations and encourage repeated intake. In turn, repeated exposures to drugs of abuse make lasting alterations in the brain function of vulnerable individuals, and these persistent alterations likely serve to maintain the maladaptive drug seeking and taking behaviors characteristic of addiction/dependence(2). In rodents, reward experience and contextual associations are frequently measured using the conditioned place preference assay, or CPP, wherein preference for a previously drug-paired context is measured. Behavioral sensitization, on the other hand, is an increase in a drug-induced behavior that develops progressively over repeated exposures. Since sensitized behaviors can often be measured after several months of drug abstinence, depending on the dose and length of initial exposure, they are considered observable correlates of lasting drug-induced plasticity. Researchers have found these assays useful in determining the neurobiological substrates mediating aspects of addiction as well as assessing the potential of different interventions in disrupting these behaviors. This manuscript describes basic, effective protocols for mouse CPP and locomotor behavioral sensitization to cocaine.
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Title:
Novel approach to data analysis in cocaine-conditioned place preference.
Only a subgroup of human drug users progress from initial drug taking to drug addiction. The learned associations between the effects of the drug and the environment in which it is experienced is an important aspect of the progression to continued drug taking and drug seeking. These associations can be modeled using the conditioned place preference (CPP) paradigm, although no current method of CPP analysis allows for the identification of within-group variability among subjects. In this study, we adapted a 'criterion' method of analysis to separate 'CPP expressing' from 'non-CPP expressing' rats to study more directly within-group variability in the CPP paradigm. Male Sprague-Dawley rats were conditioned with cocaine (5, 10, 20 mg/kg) or saline in an unbiased three-chamber CPP apparatus in either a single-trial or four-trial CPP procedure. A classification and regression tree analysis of time spent in the cocaine-paired chamber established a time of 324 s spent in the cocaine-paired chamber as the criterion for cocaine CPP expression. This criterion effectively discriminated control from cocaine-conditioned rats and was reliable for rats trained in both single trial and four-trial CPP procedures. The criterion method showed an enhanced ability to detect effective doses of cocaine in the single-trial CPP procedure and a blockade of CPP expression by MK 212 (0.125 mg/kg) treatment in a subgroup of rats. These data support the utility of the criterion analysis as an adjunct to traditional methods that compare group averages in CPP.
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Title:
Disruption of morphine-conditioned place preference by a delta2-opioid receptor antagonist: study of mu-opioid and delta-opioid receptor expression at the synapse.
The addictive properties of morphine limit its clinical use. Learned associations that develop between the abused opiate and the environment in which it is consumed are engendered through Pavlovian conditioning processes. Disruption of the learned associations between the opiate and environmental cues may be a therapeutic approach to prevent morphine dependence. Although a role for the delta-opioid receptor in the regulation of the rewarding properties of morphine has already been shown, in this study we further characterized the role of the delta-opioid receptor in morphine-induced conditioned responses by examining the effect of a selective delta2-opioid receptor antagonist (naltriben), using a conditioned place preference paradigm in rats. Additionally, we used a subcellular fractionation technique to analyze the synaptic localization of mu-opioid and delta-opioid receptors in the hippocampus, in order to examine the molecular mechanisms that may underlie this morphine-induced conditioned behavior. Our data show that the administration of 1 mg/kg naltriben (but not 0.1 mg/kg) prior to morphine was able to block morphine-induced conditioned place preference. Interestingly, this naltriben-induced disruption of morphine conditioned place preference was associated with a significant increase in the expression of the delta-opioid receptor dimer at the postsynaptic density. In addition, we also observed that morphine conditioned place preference was associated with an increase in the expression of the mu-opoid receptor in the total homogenate. Overall, these results suggest that modulation of the delta-opioid receptor expression and its synaptic localization may constitute a viable therapeutic approach to disrupt morphine-induced conditioned responses.
ID:
Title:
Novel approach to data analysis in cocaine-conditioned place preference.
Preclinical;Barnes_Maze_Test;Conditioned Place Preference Test
Key:
Guidelines/Instructions
Value:
Record the level of illumination in the compartment of the Conditioned Place Preference Test equipment. This is to be filled for each of the compartments of the apparatus. Range in the literature has been usually between 6-160 Lx. Illuminance = Light Falling on a Surface. The amount of light falling on a surface is "illuminance", and is measured in lux (metric unit = lumen/m2) or foot-candles (English unit = lumen/ft2). 1 foot-candle equals 10.8 lux.