Influence of novel versus home environments on sensitization to the psychomotor stimulant effects of cocaine and amphetamine

doi:10.1016/0006-8993(95)00028-O

Brain Research

Volume 674, Issue 2, 20 March 1995, Pages 291-298

https://doi.org/10.1016/0006-8993(95)00028-O Get rights and content

Abstract

The acute psychomotor response (rotational behavior in rats with a unilateral 6-OHDA lesion), and the development of sensitization, were studied in rats that received seven consecutive daily injections of amphetamine (Experiment 1) or cocaine (Experiment 2) either at home or in a ‘novel’ test environment. The home (HOME) and novel (NOVEL) cages were physically identical, but one group lived and was tested in these cages, whereas the rats in the other group were transported from the stainless steel hanging cages where they lived, to these NOVEL test cages, for each test session. In Expt. 1, the acute psychomotor response to 3.0 mg/kg of amphetamine i.p. and the development of sensitization (increase in the rotational response between the first and the seventh test session) were greater in the NOVEL than in the HOME environment. In Expt. 2, there were no significant group differences in the acute response to 20 mg/kg of cocaine i.p., but the animals tested in the NOVEL environment showed greater sensitization than animals tested in the HOME environment. In addition, the animals pretreated with cocaine in the NOVEL environment, but not those pretreated with cocaine in the HOME environment, showed conditioned rotational behavior in response to an injection of saline. These data indicate that: (i) sensitization to the psychomotor activating effects of both amphetamine and cocaine is enhanced in a NOVEL environment; (ii) this phenomenon appears to be independent of the effects of the NOVEL environment on the acute response to these drugs; (iii) a robust conditioned psychomotor response to contextual cues develops only when cocaine treatments are given in the NOVEL test environment.

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Influence of novel versus home environments on sensitization to the psychomotor stimulant effects of cocaine and amphetamine

Abstract

Brain Res.

Brain Res.

Brain Res.

Brain Res.

Pharmacol. Biochem. Behav.

Brain Res.

Brain Res.

Brain Res. Rev.

Brain Res.

Brain Res. Rev.

Brain Res. Rev.

Brain Res.

Brain Res.

Differential effect of stress on in vivo dopamine release in striatum, nucleus accumbens, and medial frontal cortex

J. Neurochem.

Parameters of novelty, shock predictability and response contingency in corticosterone release in the rat

Physiol. Behav.

Depletion of brain noradrenaline and dopamine by 6-hydroxydopamine

Br. J. Pharmacol.

Corticotropin-releasing factor produces fear-enhancing and behavioral activating effects following infusion into the locus coeruleus

J. Neurosci.