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Concurrent access to nicotine and sucrose in rats

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Abstract

Background

Animal models that allow concurrent access to drug and nondrug reinforcers provide unique insight into the etiology, maintenance, and treatment of drug use.

Objectives

We sought to develop and utilize a concurrent access procedure with nicotine and sucrose in rats.

Methods

Pressing one lever delivered intravenous nicotine, and pressing another lever delivered sucrose pellets, with both reinforcers freely available throughout daily sessions.

Results

Rats that had been pretrained with nicotine on some days and sucrose on other days responded on both levers when subsequently given concurrent access, but almost all responded at substantially higher rates on the sucrose lever. In contrast, rats pretrained exclusively with nicotine before being given concurrent access showed individual differences, with about half responding more on the nicotine lever. Treatment with the nicotinic receptor partial agonist varenicline selectively decreased nicotine self-administration. Food restriction and removal of the sucrose lever both increased nicotine self-administration.

Conclusions

The finding that rats continue to take nicotine when sucrose is concurrently available—and in many cases take it more frequently than sucrose—demonstrates that nicotine self-administration does not only occur in the absence of alternative reinforcement options. As a model of human nicotine use, concurrent access is more naturalistic and has higher face validity than procedures in which only one reinforcer is available or choosing one reinforcer precludes access to other reinforcers. As such, this procedure could be useful for evaluating therapeutic agents and improving our understanding of environmental conditions that promote or discourage nicotine use.

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Acknowledgments

All experiments were conducted at Newcastle University and supported by internal funds from Newcastle University and funds donated by Dr. L. Hogarth (MRC G0701456). Preparation of the manuscript was supported by the Intramural Research Program of the National Institute on Drug Abuse, National Institutes of Health, Department of Health and Human Services (LVP).

Conflict of interest

The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Neuroscience, Medical School, Newcastle University, Framlington Place, Newcastle upon Tyne, NE2 4HH, UK

    Mohammed Shoaib

  2. Preclinical Pharmacology Section, Behavioral Neuroscience Branch, Intramural Research Program, National Institute on Drug Abuse, Baltimore, MD, 21224, USA

    Leigh V. Panlilio

  3. School of Psychology, University of Exeter, Washington Singer Building, Perry Road, Exeter, EX4 4QG, UK

    Lee Hogarth

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  1. Leigh V. Panlilio
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Correspondence to Leigh V. Panlilio.

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Panlilio, L.V., Hogarth, L. & Shoaib, M. Concurrent access to nicotine and sucrose in rats. Psychopharmacology 232, 1451–1460 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00213-014-3787-8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00213-014-3787-8

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