A concurrently available negative reinforcer robustly decreases cocaine self-administration in male and female rats.

ABSTRACT: Continued drug-taking despite adverse consequences is hypothesized to be an insidious behavioral hallmark of drug addiction. Although most preclinical research has focused on drug self-administration in the presence of positive punishment, another source of potential adverse consequences is behavioral allocation away from negative reinforcers (i.e., escape/avoid electric shock) and towards drug reinforcers. The goals of the present study were to establish a discrete-trial cocaine-vs-negative reinforcer choice procedure in male and female rats and determine sensitivity of choice behavior to environmental and pharmacological manipulations. Rats could make up to nine discrete choices between an intravenous cocaine infusion (0.32 - 1.8 mg/kg/inf) under a fixed-ratio (FR) 3 schedule and a negat

SUBMITTER: Marcus MM 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10081230 | biostudies-literature | 2023 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature