Abstract
Holtzman (Sprague-Dawley) rats which were injected in amounts ranging from 0.50–3.0 mg/kg i.p. of methamphetamine avoided a 0.1% saccharin solution which had been paired temporally with the injection, and drank water in a subsequent two-bottle choice situation under non-drug conditions. The aversion persisted for the duration of the experiment, which lasted and obtained whether the animals were fluid-deprived or fluid-satiated. Saline-injected controls, on the other hand, exhibited a 90% saccharin solution preference. Rats which received 0.25 mg/kg contiguous with the drug, or animals given 3.0 mg/kg paired with water, exhibited as extreme a preference for the saccharin solution as did the saline controls. It was concluded that neither a drugmediated taste quality change nor physiological cues associated with thirst were adequate axplanations for the avoidance behavior exhibited, but that the drug was perceived as a noxious stimulus at levels above 0.50 mg/kg under the conditions described above.
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This experiment was supported in part by grants HD 00668 and 1 RO 1 MH 18904 from NIH and NIMH, and by a grant the Committee on Tobacco and Health, American Medical Association.
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Martin, J.C., Ellinwood, E.H. Conditioned aversion to a preferred solution following methamphetamine injections. Psychopharmacologia 29, 253–261 (1973). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00414040
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00414040