Opioidergic modulation of cocaine conditioned place preferences

Recent studies have begun to assess the utility of opioid agonists and antagonists for the treatment of cocaine addiction. The present studies assess the effects of naltrexone or methadone on cocaine's reinforcing properties using the conditioned place preference (CPP) test. The results indicate that a 56 mg/kg dose of naltrexone, given 4 hr prior to conditioning, attenuates cocaine's CPP. In contrast, methadone (8 mg/kg), given 1 hr prior to conditioning, enhanced cocaine's reinforcing properties. These results support the suggestion that opioid antagonists may have clinical utility in treating cocaine addiction. The results with methadone lead to a possible explanation for the higher rates of cocaine use in methadone-treated heroin addicts.