Extended blockade of the discriminative stimulus effects of nicotine with low doses of ethanol

The aim of the present study was to further evaluate effects of ethanol on nicotine discrimination and to correlate these effects with blood ethanol levels. Rats were trained to discriminate 0.3 mg/kg nicotine from its vehicle in the standard two-lever operant procedure. In antagonism tests, small d...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:European journal of pharmacology 2005-04, Vol.512 (2), p.165-172
Main Authors: Korkosz, Agnieszka, Taracha, Ewa, Plaznik, Adam, Wrobel, Elzbieta, Kostowski, Wojciech, Bienkowski, Przemyslaw
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Animals
Antagonism
Biological and medical sciences
Blood ethanol level
Central Nervous System Depressants - pharmacology
Cues
Discrimination (Psychology) - drug effects
Discrimination Learning - drug effects
Dose-Response Relationship, Drug
Ethanol
Ethanol - blood
Ethanol - pharmacology
Ganglionic Stimulants - pharmacology
Male
Medical sciences
Nicotine - pharmacology
Nicotine discrimination
Pharmacology. Drug treatments
Rats
Rats, Wistar
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Summary:The aim of the present study was to further evaluate effects of ethanol on nicotine discrimination and to correlate these effects with blood ethanol levels. Rats were trained to discriminate 0.3 mg/kg nicotine from its vehicle in the standard two-lever operant procedure. In antagonism tests, small doses of ethanol (0.25–0.5 g/kg) were injected either 5 or 50 min before nicotine. Both doses of ethanol partially antagonized the nicotine cue regardless of the pre-treatment time. Ethanol attenuated also inhibitory effects of nicotine on the rate of responding. Suppression of the cueing effects of nicotine was noted even 60 min after the injection of 0.25 g/kg ethanol, i.e. at the time point when the blood ethanol level was close to zero. Ethanol-induced antagonism of the nicotine cue disappeared when longer time (110 min) was allowed to elapse between the ethanol (0.5 g/kg) and nicotine injection. Concluding, the present results may indicate that the effects of ethanol on nicotine discrimination are not primarily related to blood ethanol levels.
ISSN:0014-2999
1879-0712
DOI:10.1016/j.ejphar.2005.02.026