The present study examined the effects of constant nicotine infusions on dopamine overflow in the nucleus accumbens and on locomotor activity and compared them with the changes evoked by repeated daily injections (one injection per day for 5 days) of the drug. The putative anxiolytic properties of nicotine have also been examined using the elevated plus-maze test of anxiety. Repetitive daily subcutaneous injections of nicotine (0.4 mg/kg) enhanced (P < 0.01) the overflow of dopamine evoked by a challenge dose of the drug (0.4 mg/kg) and increased (P < 0.01) its stimulatory effects on locomotor activity. The constant infusion of nicotine, at doses of 1 and 4 mg/kg per day, abolished (P < 0.05) the effects of a bolus injection of nicotine on extracellular dopamine and attenuated (P < 0.01) the enhanced locomotor response evoked by daily pretreatment with nicotine boli. The mesolimbic dopamine response to a bolus injection of nicotine was not significantly attenuated by nicotine infusions when the dose was reduced to 0.25 mg/kg per day. The locomotor responses in these rats were significantly (P < 0.05) less than those seen in the animals pretreated with nicotine injections alone but were also higher (P < 0.05) than those seen in saline-treated control rats given a bolus injection of nicotine. Neither the constant infusion (4 mg/kg per day) nor the injection of nicotine (0.4 mg/kg) evoked an anxiolytic or anxiogenic effect in the elevated plus-maze test. However, the nicotine infusions did abolish the locomotor stimulant effects of the drug in this apparatus.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)