The nicotinic antagonist mecamylamine precipitates nicotine abstinence syndrome in the rat

Recently, a rodent model of nicotine abstinence syndrome has been developed based on observing the frequency of spontaneous behavioral signs following termination of continuous subcutaneous infusion of nicotine tartrate. In the present study, the nicotinic antagonist mecamylamine precipitated an abs...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Psychopharmacologia 1994-06, Vol.115 (1-2), p.180-184
Main Authors: MALIN, D. H, LAKE, J. R, CARTER, V. A, CUNNINGHAM, J. S, HEBERT, K. M, CONRAD, D. L, WILSON, O. B
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Animals
Behavior, Animal - drug effects
Biological and medical sciences
Male
Mecamylamine - pharmacology
Medical sciences
Nicotine - adverse effects
Nicotinic Antagonists - pharmacology
Rats
Rats, Sprague-Dawley
Substance Withdrawal Syndrome - psychology
Substance-Related Disorders - psychology
Tobacco, tobacco smoking
Toxicology
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Recently, a rodent model of nicotine abstinence syndrome has been developed based on observing the frequency of spontaneous behavioral signs following termination of continuous subcutaneous infusion of nicotine tartrate. In the present study, the nicotinic antagonist mecamylamine precipitated an abstinence syndrome in nicotine-dependent rats. Twelve rats were each infused for 7 days with 9 mg/kg per day nicotine tartrate in saline via Alzet osmotic minipumps; another 12 rats were sham-operated and remained nicotine-naive. Six rats from each group received 1 mg/kg mecamylamine in saline SC immediately before a 30-min observation, while the remaining six rats from each group received saline alone. Nicotine-infused rats receiving mecamylamine exhibited significantly more (P < 0.01), overall abstinence signs than all other groups. In terms of categories of signs, they displayed significantly more gasps/writhes, teeth chatter/chews, shakes/tremors and ptosis. In a second experiment utilizing only nicotine-naive rats, a far higher dose of mecamylamine (5 mg/kg sc) induced a quasi-nicotine abstinence syndrome. The results provide further validation for this rodent model of nicotine abstinence syndrome.
ISSN:0033-3158
1432-2072
DOI:10.1007/BF02244770