TY - JOUR
T1 - Reference-dose place conditioning with ethanol in mice
T2 - Empirical and theoretical analysis
AU - Groblewski, Peter A.
AU - Bax, Laura S.
AU - Cunningham, Christopher L.
N1 - Funding Information:
Acknowledgements This research was supported by NIH-NIAAA grants AA07468 and AA07702. Thanks are extended to Jessica Knowles for assistance in data collection and to Christina Gremel and Charlene Voorhees for comments on the manuscript.
PY - 2008/11
Y1 - 2008/11
N2 - Rationale: A frequently expressed criticism of the conditioned place preference (CPP) procedure is that it sometimes lacks a graded dose-response curve for many drugs. Objective: We used a combination of standard and reference-dose CPP procedures to examine the dose-response curve for ethanol-induced CPP in DBA/2J mice. Materials and methods: In the standard procedure, ethanol (0.5, 1.5, 2, and 4 g/kg) was paired with a distinctive floor cue, whereas saline was paired with a different floor cue. In the reference-dose procedure, each cue was paired with a different dose of ethanol. All mice received four 5-min trials of each type in both procedures. Results: Standard procedures yielded similar levels of CPP at doses of 1.5, 2, and 4 g/kg, whereas 0.5 g/kg did not produce significant CPP. However, in the reference-dose procedure, exposure to the 0.5-g/kg dose interfered with CPP normally produced by 1.5 or 2 g/kg. Moreover, mice showed significant preference for the 4-g/kg-paired cue over the 1.5-g/kg-paired cue. Conclusions: These studies show that a reference-dose procedure can reveal effects of low doses that are sometimes difficult to detect in a standard procedure. The reference-dose procedure may also uncover differences between higher doses that normally produce similar preference. Efficacy of the reference-dose procedure may be explained by a theoretical analysis that assumes the procedure places behavior between the extremes of the performance range, offering a more sensitive method for detecting effects of manipulations that produce small changes and/or differences in the rewarding effects of ethanol.
AB - Rationale: A frequently expressed criticism of the conditioned place preference (CPP) procedure is that it sometimes lacks a graded dose-response curve for many drugs. Objective: We used a combination of standard and reference-dose CPP procedures to examine the dose-response curve for ethanol-induced CPP in DBA/2J mice. Materials and methods: In the standard procedure, ethanol (0.5, 1.5, 2, and 4 g/kg) was paired with a distinctive floor cue, whereas saline was paired with a different floor cue. In the reference-dose procedure, each cue was paired with a different dose of ethanol. All mice received four 5-min trials of each type in both procedures. Results: Standard procedures yielded similar levels of CPP at doses of 1.5, 2, and 4 g/kg, whereas 0.5 g/kg did not produce significant CPP. However, in the reference-dose procedure, exposure to the 0.5-g/kg dose interfered with CPP normally produced by 1.5 or 2 g/kg. Moreover, mice showed significant preference for the 4-g/kg-paired cue over the 1.5-g/kg-paired cue. Conclusions: These studies show that a reference-dose procedure can reveal effects of low doses that are sometimes difficult to detect in a standard procedure. The reference-dose procedure may also uncover differences between higher doses that normally produce similar preference. Efficacy of the reference-dose procedure may be explained by a theoretical analysis that assumes the procedure places behavior between the extremes of the performance range, offering a more sensitive method for detecting effects of manipulations that produce small changes and/or differences in the rewarding effects of ethanol.
KW - Conditioned place preference
KW - Ethanol
KW - Inbred mice (DBA/2J)
KW - Locomotor activity
KW - Reference-dose procedure
KW - Reward
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=54049132445&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=54049132445&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1007/s00213-008-1251-3
DO - 10.1007/s00213-008-1251-3
M3 - Article
C2 - 18633601
AN - SCOPUS:54049132445
SN - 0033-3158
VL - 201
SP - 97
EP - 106
JO - Psychopharmacology
JF - Psychopharmacology
IS - 1
ER -