The ventral tegmental area (VTA) plays a critical role in motivated behavior. However, it remains unclear whether intact VTA function is necessary for motivated behavior to seek contexts repeatedly paired with natural stimuli and/or pharmacological stimuli. In the present study, conditioned place preference (CPP) was induced with highly salient natural or drug stimuli attributed with strong inc...

Introduction: Several investigations have indicated that dopamine D receptors could influence morphine 2 eward. The influence of olanzapine (a D dopamine receptor antagonist) on the morphine-induced conditioned 2 lace preference (CPP) in male and female mice was investigated in the present study. Methods: The effects of olanzapine on the acquisition and expression of morphine CPP in...

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 a...

introduction: several investigations have indicated that dopamine d receptors could influence morphine 2 eward. the influence of olanzapine (a d dopamine receptor antagonist) on the morphine-induced conditioned 2 lace preference (cpp) in male and female mice was investigated in the present study. methods: the effects of olanzapine on the acquisition and expression of morphine cpp in male and fe...

Background: Disturbances in maternal care have been associated with increased risk for drug abuse later in life. However, there has been little investigation of the effects of maternal separation (MS), a model of early life stress, on nicotine dependence, specifically during adolescence. In the present study, we aimed to investigate the effect of MS on nicotine-conditioned place preference (CPP...

Methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA) has previously been shown to produce a positive conditioned place preference (CPP) among rats. Here the effects of doses of a specific 5-HT3 antagonist, MDL72222, on MDMA's ability to produce a CPP were assessed. A dose of MDL72222 (0.03 mg/kg) blocked the establishment of a MDMA CPP. These results support the suggestions that compounds affecting the 5-HT3 r...

Cocaine and many other psychostimulants strongly induce urokinase-type plasminogen activator (uPA) expression in the mesolimbic dopaminergic pathway, which plays a major role in drug-mediated behavioral plasticity [Bahi A, Boyer F, Gumy C, Kafri T, Dreyer JL. In vivo gene delivery of urokinase-type plasminogen activator with regulatable lentivirus induces behavioral changes in chronic cocaine a...

Previously we reported that systemic administration of the dopamine D3 receptor-preferring partial agonist BP 897 blocked the expression, but not the acquisition, of amphetamine-conditioned activity. This suggested the hypothesis that BP 897 would block the expression, but not the acquisition, of amphetamine-conditioned place preference (CPP). Thus, during preconditioning rats had access to two...

Exposure to drug-associated cues to induce extinction is a useful strategy to contrast cue-induced drug seeking. Norepinephrine (NE) transmission in medial prefrontal cortex has a role in the acquisition and extinction of conditioned place preference induced by amphetamine. We have reported recently that NE in prelimbic cortex delays extinction of amphetamine-induced conditioned place preferenc...

this review gives an overview of our recent findings and developments in research on brain mechanisms of morphine reward from studies using the place preference conditioning paradigm. intracranial place conditioning methodology has become a valuable and firmly established and very widely used tool in behavioural pharmacology and drug reward mechanisms. several studies have established that morp...