Abstract
Three experiments were performed on Sprague-Dawley derived rats in which 3.0 mg/kg, i.p., injections of methamphetamine were paired with either, (1) a distinctive spatial enclosure, i.e., either a black or gray portion of a shuttle box with discriminably different flooring, (2) the enclosure plus 0.1% saccharin solution availability in the home cage, or (3) the enclosure plus 0.1% saccharin solution availability in that area. Following three drug pairings which alternated with saline injections paired with a different enclosure or enclosure plus H2O availability, a choice of either spatial (1), or spatial plus gustatory stimuli (2,3) which included the original CS's, were presented under non-drug, non-injection conditions. Control groups received saline injections each day under identical conditions. No aversion to the enclosed area, which had been paired with the drug was demonstrated under (1), gustatory (P=0.005) but not spatial aversion was in evidence in the second paradigm, and spatial (P=0.01) and gustatory (P<0.01) aversion was exhibited in the last study. It was concluded that subsequent aversion to distinctive spatial enclosures following methamphetamine injections was not as strong an effect as similar aversions to gustatory stimuli. Furthermore, the effect only obtained to neutral and not to preferred spatial areas at the dose level tested and in the apparatus used in those studies.
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We wish to thank the Abbott Laboratoris, North Chicago, Illinois, which generously supplied the methamphetamine-HCL used in these studies.
This research was supported by an NIH General Research Support Grant, to the University of Washington, and a grant from the Graduate School Research Fund, at the University of Washington.
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Martin, J.C., Ellinwood, E.H. Conditioned aversion in spatial paradigms following methamphetamine injection. Psychopharmacologia 36, 323–335 (1974). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00422564
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00422564