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.
Comparable studies
Other preclinical and animal studies on MDMA, most cited first.
Citations in the library
Cited by 19
- MDMA self‐administration in rats: acquisition, progressive ratio responding and serotonin transporter binding European Journal of Neuroscience November 16, 2007
- MDMA Self-Administration in Laboratory Animals: A Summary of the Literature and Proposal for Future Research Neuropsychobiology 2009
- Dopaminergic mechanisms of reinstatement of MDMA‐seeking behaviour in rats British Journal of Pharmacology December 30, 2010
- Drug seeking in response to a priming injection of MDMA in rats: relationship to initial sensitivity to self-administered MDMA and dorsal striatal dopamine The International Journal of Neuropsychopharmacology March 25, 2010
- Methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA): Serotonergic and dopaminergic mechanisms related to its use and misuse Journal of Neurochemistry March 12, 2021
and 14 more in the library