OBJECTIVE It has been shown that berberine, a major component of Berberis vulgaris extract, modulates the activity of several neurotransmitter systems including dopamine (Da) and N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) contributing to rewarding and reinforcing effects of morphine. Drug craving and relapsing even after a long time of abstinence therapy are the most important problems of addiction. In the pr...

OBJECTIVE To examine the effects produced by electroacupuncture (EA) of different frequencies on the expression of morphine conditioned place preference (CPP) in rats. METHODS SD rats were given 4 days consecutive trials in a computerized three-chamber "unbiased" CPP apparatus. Twenty-four hours later, the time spent on drug-pairing compartment of the rat was examined. Rats trained with CPP p...

  The involvement of nitric oxide (NO) in the reinforcing properties of opioids was studied by examining the effect of a NO precursor (L-arginine) and NO synthase inhibitor (L-nitro-amino-methyl-ester, L-NAME) on the conditioned place preference (CPP) induced by morphine. The experiment was performed on male albino Swiss- White mice (25 ± 5 g). L-arginine in doses of 100, 200 and 500 mg/kg (i.p...

The present study investigated the effect of ryanodine receptors (RyRs) in the development and expression of morphine-induced conditioned place preference (CPP). Type 2 RyRs (RyRs-2) in the nucleus accumbens (NAcc) significantly increased in morphine-conditioned mice, whereas type 1, 2, and 3 RyRs in the frontal cortex and ventral tegmental area showed no changes. Intracerebroventricular pretre...

Positive social interaction could play an essential role in switching the preference of the substance dependent individual away from drug related activities. We have previously shown that conditioned place preference (CPP) for cocaine at the dose of 15 mg/kg and CPP for four 15-min episodes of social interaction were equally strong when rats were concurrently conditioned for place preference by...

In rodents, a conditioned place preference (CPP) can be induced by morphine. In the current study, we designed a biased place conditioning paradigm to test the rewarding effects of morphine in freely moving rhesus monkeys. Five monkeys were first placed in three serial rooms with the doors open between them for three days. After this habituation period, during which baseline preference for each...

In this study, we measured conditioned place preference (CPP) responses to cocaine following subchronic administration of the recreationally abused drug (+/-)-3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA, "ecstasy") in male Sprague-Dawley rats. Animals were given either vehicle (1 ml/kg of distilled water, s.c.) or MDMA (20 mg/kg, s.c.) twice a day for 4 consecutive days. Two weeks later, CPP respon...

Introduction: A close interaction exists between the brain opioid and serotonin (5-HT) neurotransmitter systems. Brain neurotransmitter 5-HT plays an important role in the regulation of reward-related processing. However, a few studies have investigated the potential role of 5-HT2A receptors in this behavior. Therefore, the aim of the present study was to assess the influence of...

introduction: the influence of ascorbic acid on the nicotine-induced conditioned place preference (cpp) and behavioral sensitization was investigated in the present study. methods: in a pilot study, place conditioning and locomotor activity were investigated after nicotine (0.25, 0.5, 0.75, 1, 1.5 and 2 mg/kg) or ascorbic acid (1, 10, 100 and 1000 mg/kg) administration. different doses of ascor...

The effects of opioid antagonists on conditioned reward produced by ethanol provide variable and sometimes conflicting results, especially in mice. In the present set of experiments, male C57BL/6 mice received 4 vehicle and 4 ethanol conditionings, and the rewarding effects of ethanol were assessed in an unbiased version of the conditioned place preference (CPP) apparatus and an unbiased stimul...