| Article ID | Journal | Published Year | Pages | File Type |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2012758 | Pharmacology Biochemistry and Behavior | 2015 | 8 Pages |
•Nicotine pre-exposure resulted in weight and locomotor differences.•Adolescent nicotine exposure did not affect cocaine intake during adulthood.•Cocaine induced adult, dose-dependent taste avoidance, regardless of pre-exposure.•Cocaine induced adult place preferences with no effects of nicotine pre-exposure.•Rats had clear dose dependent self-administration, with no nicotine pre-exposure effects.
The present experiments examined the effects of adolescent nicotine pre-exposure on the rewarding and aversive effects of cocaine and on cocaine self-administration in adult male rats. In Experiment 1, adolescent Sprague–Dawley rats (postnatal days 28–43) were given once daily injections of nicotine (0.6 mg/kg) or vehicle and then tested for the aversive and rewarding effects of cocaine in a combined conditioned taste avoidance (CTA)/conditioned place preference (CPP) procedure in adulthood. In Experiment 2, adolescent Sprague–Dawley rats were pre-exposed to nicotine then tested for cocaine self-administration (0.25 or 0.75 mg/kg), progressive ratio (PR) responding, extinction and cue-induced reinstatement in adulthood. In Experiment 1, rats showed significant dose-dependent cocaine-induced taste avoidance with cocaine-injected subjects consuming less saccharin over trials, but no effect of nicotine pre-exposure. For place preferences, cocaine induced significant place preferences with cocaine injected subjects spending significantly more time on the cocaine-paired side, but again there was no effect of nicotine history. All rats in Experiment 2 showed clear, dose-dependent responding during cocaine acquisition, PR testing, extinction and reinstatement with no effect of nicotine pre-exposure. These studies demonstrate that adolescent nicotine pre-exposure does not have an impact on cocaine's affective properties or its self-administration at least with the specific parametric conditions under which these effects were tested.
