Reinstatement of conditioned reinforcing properties of cocaine-conditioned stimuli

The aim of the present experiment was to investigate the effects of cocaine primes and exposure to foot shock stress on reinstatement of operant responding maintained by a cocaine-conditioned stimulus in rats never trained to actively self-administer cocaine. Following a baseline session of responding for a light-buzzer compound stimulus, rats underwent classical conditioning whereby the compound stimulus was paired with passive intravenous infusions of cocaine (vehicle, 0.5 or 1.0 mg/kg/inf). On subsequent test sessions, operant responding for the compound stimulus was re-assessed in the absence of cocaine. Finally, rats received a cocaine prime (20 mg/kg, i.p.) and foot shock stress prior to two separate test sessions assessing lever pressing for the cocaine-conditioned stimulus. It was found that the animals conditioned with cocaine displayed sustained responding on the lever activating the cocaine-conditioned stimulus. In addition, priming injections of cocaine reinstated responding for the light-buzzer compound stimulus, and this effect was proportional to the dose of cocaine received during classical conditioning. Foot shock stress also reinstated responding, but its effect was smaller and observed only in animals conditioned with the highest dose of cocaine. These findings suggest that cocaine primes and stress can induce reinstatement by reactivating the motivational value of cocaine-conditioned cues.