Conditioning following repeated exposure to MDMA in rats: Role in the maintenance of MDMA self-administration.
Evangeline Daniela, David Gittings, Susan Schenk
Behavioral Neuroscience 2006 DOI: 10.1037/0735-7044.120.5.1144 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Observational cohort Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Population | Rats |
| Duration | 15-day test period after training |
| Topics | MDMA |
| Keywords | Stimulus psychology Self-administration Hallucinogen Stimulus control Classical conditioning Developmental psychology Anesthesia Cognitive psychology |
| Citations | 37 |
| Key findings | Cues associated with MDMA develop conditioned properties that may contribute to drug taking. |
Abstract
There has been some controversy in the literature concerning the ability of +/-3,4 methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA) to reinforce operant responding in rats. In the present study, operant responding maintained by intravenous MDMA infusions increased when the fixed ratio schedule was increased from 1 to 5, decreased when saline was substituted for MDMA, and increased again when MDMA was reintroduced. During self-administration training, each infusion of MDMA was paired with the illumination of a light stimulus. The role of the continued presentation of this drug-associated stimulus in operant responding was measured in groups of rats that had received comparable exposure (average 19 daily test sessions) to MDMA during training. When either the light stimulus or the drug infusion was omitted, operant responding decreased gradually over the 15-day test period following training. When both the light stimulus and the MDMA infusion were omitted, there was a dramatic decrease in operant responding that persisted for the entire 15-day test period. These findings suggest that cues associated with MDMA develop conditioned properties that might contribute to drug taking.