Diminished conditioned responding to the nicotine stimulus by antidepressant drugs with differing specificity for the serotonin and norepinephrine transporter

• Published in: Pharmacology, biochemistry and behavior biochemistry and behavior, 2012-01, Vol.100 (3), p.419-424
• Main Authors: Dion, Amanda M., Sanderson, Scott C., Murrin, L. Charles, Bevins, Rick A.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Animals; Antidepressive Agents - administration & dosage; Antidepressive Agents - pharmacology; Antidepressive Agents - therapeutic use; Behavior, Animal - drug effects; Biological and medical sciences; Citalopram; Citalopram - administration & dosage; Citalopram - pharmacology; Citalopram - therapeutic use; Discrimination Learning; Dose-Response Relationship, Drug; Drug Interactions; Dyskinesia, Drug-Induced - drug therapy; Generalization, Response - drug effects; Imipramine; Imipramine - administration & dosage; Imipramine - pharmacology; Imipramine - therapeutic use; Male; Medical sciences; Morpholines - administration & dosage; Morpholines - pharmacology; Morpholines - therapeutic use; Neuropharmacology; Nicotine; Nicotine - administration & dosage; Nicotine - adverse effects; Nicotine - antagonists & inhibitors; Nicotine - pharmacology; Nicotinic Agonists - administration & dosage; Nicotinic Agonists - adverse effects; Nicotinic Agonists - chemistry; Nicotinic Agonists - pharmacology; Norepinephrine Plasma Membrane Transport Proteins - antagonists & inhibitors; Pavlovian drug discrimination; Pharmacology. Drug treatments; Psychoanaleptics: cns stimulant, antidepressant agent, nootropic agent, mood stabilizer; Psychoanaleptics: cns stimulant, antidepressant agent, nootropic agent, mood stabilizer..., (alzheimer disease); Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry; Psychopharmacology; Random Allocation; Rats; Rats, Sprague-Dawley; Reboxetine; Selective noradrenaline reuptake inhibitor; Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor; Serotonin Plasma Membrane Transport Proteins - chemistry; Serotonin Uptake Inhibitors - administration & dosage; Serotonin Uptake Inhibitors - pharmacology; Serotonin Uptake Inhibitors - therapeutic use; Tobacco Use Disorder - drug therapy
• ISSN: 0091-3057; 1873-5177
• DOI: 10.1016/j.pbb.2011.10.003

People diagnosed with depression also tend to have a co-morbid nicotine addiction. Thus, there is interest in whether medications used to treat depression alter the effects of nicotine. This study assessed whether the antidepressant drugs citalopram, imipramine, and reboxetine, with differing specificity for the serotonin and norepinephrine transporter, altered responding controlled by the conditional stimulus (CS) effects of nicotine. Rats received intermixed 20-min nicotine (0.4mg base/kg, SC) and saline sessions. On nicotine sessions, rats had intermittent access to sucrose; no sucrose was available on saline sessions. After discrimination performance stabilized and a nicotine generalization curve (0.025–0.4mg/kg) was established, the antidepressant drugs were assessed. In these tests, rats were pretreated with citalopram (1–17mg/kg), imipramine (1–17mg/kg), or reboxetine (1–30mg/kg) before the training dose of nicotine and placement in a chamber for a 4-min extinction test. At the higher doses, all three antidepressant drugs blocked responding evoked by the nicotine CS and decreased nicotine-induced hyperactivity. When these higher doses of citalopram, imipramine, and reboxetine were tested alone (no nicotine), they decreased chamber activity and/or dipper entries. Nevertheless, all three drugs produced partial or complete blockade of the CS effects of nicotine at doses that produced no effect on dipper entries or chamber entries. This finding suggests that both neurotransmitters play a role in the CS effects of nicotine and that modifications in these systems by antidepressants may be clinically relevant. ► Nicotine acquired differential control of goal-tracking conditioned response (CR). ► Antidepressant drugs citalopram, imipramine, and reboxetine blocked the CR. ► Stimulus effects of nicotine involve the noradrenergic and serotonergic systems. ► At some doses, antidepressant drugs alone alter activity and/or dipper entries. ► Non-specific effects, thus, contribute some to the decrease in the CR.