Differential effects of pair housing on voluntary nicotine consumption: a comparison between male and female adolescent rats

• Published in: Psychopharmacology 2017-08, Vol.234 (16), p.2463-2473
• Main Authors: Lee, Hyunchan, Jang, Minji, Kim, Woonhee, Noh, Jihyun
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Addictions; Adolescents; Animals; Behavior, Animal - drug effects; Behavior, Animal - physiology; Biomedical and Life Sciences; Biomedicine; Body weight; Choice Behavior - drug effects; Choice Behavior - physiology; Demographic aspects; Drug addiction; Drug dependence; Female; Food intake; Gender differences; Health aspects; Housing; Housing, Animal; Male; Neurosciences; Nicotine; Nicotine - administration & dosage; Original Investigation; Pharmacology/Toxicology; Psychiatry; Rats; Rats, Sprague-Dawley; Rodents; Self Administration; Sex; Sex Characteristics; Smoking; Smoking cessation; Social aspects; Social Behavior; Social interactions; Teenagers; Test procedures; Tobacco; Tobacco smoking; Tobacco Use Disorder; Youth smoking
• ISSN: 0033-3158; 1432-2072
• DOI: 10.1007/s00213-017-4636-3

Rationale Tobacco smoking occurs in a wide array of social circumstances. Social support for quitting is generally used to stop smoking, while peer interactions may be a crucial factor in triggering tobacco use among adolescents. Objectives To determine the role of social factors on nicotine dependence, we compared single- and pair-housed rats subjected to voluntary oral nicotine consumption tests. Methods Six-week-old adolescent rats were subjected to experimental procedures and assigned to one of the following groups: a male single group, a male pair group with a sibling, a female single group, and a female pair group with a sibling. To measure voluntary nicotine intake, we adopted a two-bottle free-choice paradigm for each two days using 25 μg/ml and 100 μg/ml nicotine solution. Results There were no differences in change in body weight or food intake between the two groups of either sex. Pair-housed female rats showed a reduction in nicotine consumption and preference for both low- and high-dose nicotine solution, while pair-housed male rats showed only reduced consumption and preference for high-dose nicotine solution, but not low-dose solution, as compared to single-housed male rats. Conclusions Nicotine consumption is sex-dependently controlled by the social circumstances of rats. This study broadens our perspectives on the role of social interactions as a therapeutic strategy to treat nicotine addiction-related behaviors depending on sex.