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Ethanol consumption reduces the adverse consequences of self-administered intravenous cocaine in rats

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Abstract

Rationale

Human drug users report that the initial positive effects of cocaine are followed by a dysphoric state characterized by anxiety and drug-craving. As a means of presumably attenuating these negative aftereffects, 50–90% of cocaine users choose to co-administer ethanol during cocaine binges. This co-administration reportedly prolongs the “high” and diminishes the “low” associated with cocaine use.

Objective

The current study was intended to assess whether this phenomenon could be modeled in the animal laboratory. We have previously shown that animals running a straight alley for an intravenous cocaine reward develop a unique approach-avoidance “conflict” behavior that is characterized by stop and retreat behaviors as the subjects approach the goal box. The retreats are thought to reflect the concurrent positive (reward) and negative (anxiety) associations with the goal box and can be dose-dependently reduced by pretreatment with diazepam, which presumably attenuates the anxiety stemming from the conflict.

Methods

To test the role of ethanol in reducing cocaine-induced anxiety, rats were trained to run a straight-arm alley for a single daily injection of cocaine (1.0 mg/kg IV).

Results

Rats that had the opportunity to then drink either an 8% or a 4% sucrose–ethanol solution immediately following their daily runway trial came to exhibit fewer retreats than rats that did not drink ethanol following their cocaine injection.

Conclusions

These results suggest that ethanol effectively reduces the development of approach-avoidance conflict in animals running an alley for IV cocaine, a result that may account for the prevalence of cocaine–ethanol co-administration in humans.

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Acknowledgements

The authors thank Maggie Hogan, Max Samimi, Genevieve Bender, Michele Bongiovanni and Michael Thurman, who assisted with the running of the subjects. Special thanks to Rick Bernardi for technical assistance. The research described herein was supported by funds from the National Institute of Drug Abuse grant DA05041 awarded to A.E.

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  1. Behavioral Pharmacology Laboratory, Department of Psychology, University of California, Santa Barbara, CA, 93106, USA

    L. A. Knackstedt & A. Ettenberg

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  1. L. A. Knackstedt
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  2. A. Ettenberg
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Correspondence to A. Ettenberg.

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Knackstedt, L.A., Ettenberg, A. Ethanol consumption reduces the adverse consequences of self-administered intravenous cocaine in rats. Psychopharmacology 178, 143–150 (2005). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00213-004-1996-2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00213-004-1996-2

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