Cocaethylene produces discriminative stimulus properties in the rat: effect of cocaine and ethanol coadministration.

Title

Cocaethylene produces discriminative stimulus properties in the rat: effect of cocaine and ethanol coadministration.

Creator

Schechter M D

Publisher

Pharmacology, biochemistry, and behavior

Date

1995
1995-07

Description

Experimentally naive Sprague-Dawley male rats were trained to discriminate the interoceptive stimulus cues produced by either 10.0 mg/kg cocaine or 10.0 mg/kg cocaethylene from their saline vehicles. Although it required more sessions to train the cocaethylene rats, once they were trained to criterion performance the ED50 value for cocaethylene (2.89 mg/kg) was very similar to that of cocaine (3.04 mg/kg). Coadministration of a 300-mg/kg dose of ethanol that produced saline-like responding in cocaethylene-trained rats with 2.5 mg/kg cocaine allowed for 88.9% of first lever selections being made on the cocaethylene-appropriate lever. Time-course evidence using coadministered (1.25-mg/kg) cocaine and (300-mg/kg) ethanol indicated that the formation of cocaethylene was highest, as indicated by discriminative performance, at 15 min and progressively decreased as the postinjection interval was increased to 30, 60, and 120 min. The results are discussed in light of rapid formation of cocaethylene from cotreatment with ethanol and cocaine in the mouse, rat, and human subject. The suggestion is made as to the prevalent, and growing, use of this drug combination in the human population of cocaine abusers.

Subject

Animals; Cocaine/*analogs & derivatives/pharmacokinetics/*pharmacology; Discrimination (Psychology)/*drug effects; Dose-Response Relationship; Drug; Ethanol/pharmacokinetics/*pharmacology; Male; Rats; Reinforcement Schedule; Sprague-Dawley

Rights

Article information provided for research and reference use only. All rights are retained by the journal listed under publisher and/or the creator(s).

Pages

285–289

Issue

2

Volume

51

Citation

Schechter M D, “Cocaethylene produces discriminative stimulus properties in the rat: effect of cocaine and ethanol coadministration.,” NEOMED Bibliography Database, accessed March 28, 2024, https://neomed.omeka.net/items/show/3332.