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Tolerance to the disruptive effects of Delta(9)-THC on learning in rats.

M S Delatte, P J Winsauer, J M Moerschbaecher

Pharmacology, Biochemistry, and Behavior December 2002 DOI: 10.1016/s0091-3057(02)00966-8 (opens in new tab)

Study at a glance

AI-extracted from the abstract
Characteristics Observational cohort Peer reviewed
Population Rats responding under a multiple schedule of repeated acquisition and performance
Interventions Delta(9)-tetrahydrocannabinol (Delta(9)-THC) SR141716A
Dose Delta(9)-THC 1-10 mg/kg acutely and 5.6 mg/kg chronically; SR141716A 0.32 and 1 mg/kg
Topics Cannabis
Key findings Tolerance to Delta(9)-THC's rate-decreasing and error-increasing effects developed in both the acquisition and performance components after daily administration of 5.6 mg/kg. When 1 mg/kg SR141716A was substituted during chronic treatment, it selectively increased within-session errors in the acquisition component, suggesting learning was more sensitive than performance to the antagonist under these conditions.

Abstract

Tolerance to the effects of the cannabinoid agonist Delta(9)-tetrahydrocannabinol (Delta(9)-THC) was characterized in rats responding under a multiple schedule of repeated acquisition and performance. During the acquisition component, subjects acquired a different three-response sequence each session, whereas in the performance component the sequence was the same each session. Responding was maintained under a second-order fixed-ratio 2 (FR2) schedule of food reinforcement. Acute doses of Delta(9)-THC (1-10 mg/kg) decreased rate and accuracy in both components, whereas doses of the cannabinoid (CB1) receptor antagonist N-(piperidin-1-yn-)-5-(4-chlorophenyl)-1-(2,4-dichlorophenyl)-4-methyl-1H-pyrazole-3-carboxamide hydrochloride (SR141716A; 0.32 and 1 mg/kg) were ineffective. While 5.6 mg/kg of Delta(9)-THC disrupted responding when administered acutely, tolerance to the rate-decreasing and error-increasing effects of this dose developed in both components after daily administration. When 1 mg/kg of SR141716A was substituted for Delta(9)-THC during chronic administration, this previously ineffective dose selectively increased within-session errors in the acquisition component of the multiple schedule. During the postchronic phase, subjects were generally less sensitive to the disruptive effects of Delta(9)-THC. In summary, these data demonstrated that tolerance to Delta(9)-THC developed across two different behavioral tasks and that learning was generally more sensitive than performance to the effects of SR141716A during chronic treatment with Delta(9)-THC.

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