Morphine-conditioned changes in locomotor activity: role of the conditioned stimulus

Exp Clin Psychopharmacol. 1998 May;6(2):131-8. doi: 10.1037//1064-1297.6.2.131.

Abstract

When a multisensory environment was reliably paired with morphine (2 mg/kg) in rats, that environment, in a drug-free test, evoked a hyperactive conditioned response (CR). When an olfactory cue (banana odor) was the only stimulus element reliably paired with morphine, it also elicited a hyperactive CR. However, a gustatory cue (saccharin solution) evoked a hypoactive CR. This taste-elicited decrease in activity was dose dependent; morphine at 2 and 4 mg/kg conditioned hypoactivity, whereas a higher dose (8 mg/kg) did not. A robust conditioned saccharin aversion occurred only at the highest dose of morphine, suggesting disassociation between the hypoactive CR and taste aversion. A taste cue present during context conditioning also prevented either acquisition or expression of the hyperactive CR to the context. The modality of the conditioned stimulus is a critical determinant of the form of the CR in a morphine locomotor conditioning paradigm.

Publication types

  • Research Support, U.S. Gov't, P.H.S.

MeSH terms

  • Animals
  • Conditioning, Psychological / drug effects*
  • Male
  • Morphine / pharmacology*
  • Motor Activity / drug effects*
  • Narcotics / pharmacology*
  • Rats
  • Rats, Sprague-Dawley

Substances

  • Narcotics
  • Morphine