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Dopaminergic and cholinergic involvement in the discriminative stimulus effects of nicotine and cocaine in rats

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Abstract

Rationale

Previous work has demonstrated asymmetrical cross-generalization between the discriminative stimulus effects of nicotine and cocaine: nicotine fully substitutes for cocaine, whereas cocaine only partially substitutes for nicotine. The factors responsible for the similarities and differences between the two drugs remain unclear.

Objective

The study tested the involvement of dopaminergic and/or cholinergic mechanisms in the discriminative stimulus effects of nicotine and cocaine.

Methods

One set of rats was trained to discriminate cocaine (8.9 mg/kg) from saline, and two other sets of rats were trained to discriminate nicotine (0.1 mg/kg) from saline.

Results

In cocaine-trained rats, among the cholinergic agonists studied only nicotine (0.01–0.56 mg/kg) produced full, dose-related substitution; nornicotine (1–5.6 mg/kg) substituted only partially, and lobeline (2.71–15.34 mg/kg) and pilocarpine (0.26–2.55 mg/kg) failed to engender any cocaine-appropriate responding. The nicotinic antagonist mecamylamine (1–5.6 mg/kg) failed to block cocaine's discriminative stimulus effects. The dopamine antagonist cis-flupentixol (0.48 mg/kg) blocked the substitution of nicotine for cocaine. In nicotine-trained rats, the dopamine uptake blockers cocaine, bupropion and nomifensine (0.2–26.1 mg/kg) each substituted only partially for nicotine, and cis-flupentixol (0.48–0.86 mg/kg) antagonized the discriminative stimulus effects of nicotine.

Conclusions

Nicotine fully substitutes for cocaine because of its effects on dopamine transmission, and not because the discriminative stimulus effects of cocaine incorporate a cholinergic component. Substitution of nicotine for cocaine may depend more on nicotine-induced dopamine release than does the nicotine-trained discriminative stimulus; there may be differential dopaminergic involvement after acute and repeated treatment with nicotine or cocaine.

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Acknowledgements

The authors thank the staff at BMSU for technical support, and Dr. Jonathan Katz (NIDA) and Dr Matthew O'Callaghan (NIDA) for comments on the manuscript.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Psychology, University of Birmingham, Edgbaston, Birmingham, B15 2TT, UK

    Rajeev I. Desai, David J. Barber & Philip Terry

  2. Medications Discovery Research Branch, National Institute on Drug Abuse, Intramural Research Program, National Institute of Health, PO Box 5180, Baltimore, MD 21224, USA

    Rajeev I. Desai

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  1. Rajeev I. Desai
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  2. David J. Barber
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  3. Philip Terry
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Correspondence to Rajeev I. Desai.

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Desai, R.I., Barber, D.J. & Terry, P. Dopaminergic and cholinergic involvement in the discriminative stimulus effects of nicotine and cocaine in rats. Psychopharmacology 167, 335–343 (2003). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00213-003-1426-x

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00213-003-1426-x

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