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Retrograde conditioning of place preference and motor activity with cocaine in mice

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Abstract

Rationale

In order to improve understanding of the nature of drug-associated memory, the current studies addressed whether conditioned place preference (CPP) could develop under conditions in which there was a delay between presentation of context and drug exposure (i.e., retrograde or trace conditioning).

Objectives

The objective was to assess development of CPP when cocaine or methamphetamine was injected simultaneously with exposure to a salient context (S+), or after delays differing in length.

Methods

Dose response curves for conventional CPP were established using separate groups of Swiss-Webster mice injected with cocaine or methamphetamine just prior to S+ exposure. To assess the development of retrograde CPP, other groups received trace conditioning, where cocaine (15 mg/kg) or methamphetamine (0.5 mg/kg) was injected after a delay of 15, 60, 120, 180, 240, or 480 min following the end of the S+ session.

Results

Mice receiving conventional CPP with cocaine or methamphetamine during S+ showed significant place preference. None of the groups receiving delayed methamphetamine showed significant CPP; however, CPP was evident in mice receiving cocaine after delays of up to 4 h following S+. In a separate study, delayed methamphetamine also did not result in significant place preference when presented in doses of 0.25 or 1 mg/kg.

Conclusions

These results suggest that psychostimulant drug taking may be broadly generalized to context through retrograde association with events in recent memory, a factor that may contribute to drug-seeking and relapse following abstinence.

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Acknowledgments

Support for this research was provided by contract N01DA-13-8908 from the National Institute on Drug Abuse. NIDA had no further role in the design, analysis, or publication of this report.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Center for Neuroscience Discovery, Institute for Healthy Aging, University of North Texas Health Science Center at Fort Worth, 3500 Camp Bowie Blvd, Fort Worth, TX, 76107, USA

    Ritu A. Shetty, Margaret A. Rutledge & Michael J. Forster

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  1. Ritu A. Shetty
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  2. Margaret A. Rutledge
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  3. Michael J. Forster
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Correspondence to Michael J. Forster.

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The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

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Ritu A. Shetty and Margaret A. Rutledge contributed equally to this work.

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Shetty, R.A., Rutledge, M.A. & Forster, M.J. Retrograde conditioning of place preference and motor activity with cocaine in mice. Psychopharmacology 234, 515–522 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00213-016-4482-8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00213-016-4482-8

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