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Modelling drug kinetics with brain stimulation: dopamine antagonists increase self-stimulation
1Department of Psychology, McGill University, Montreal, Quebec, Canada.
Pharmacology, Biochemistry, and Behavior
|March 1, 1992
Summary
This study reveals that brain stimulation, when modeled to mimic drug kinetics, can be self-administered by animals similarly to drugs. Dopamine antagonists influenced this novel brain stimulation self-administration.
Area of Science:
- Neuroscience
- Pharmacology
- Behavioral Science
Background:
- Rewarding effects of drugs and brain stimulation are thought to involve a common neural system.
- However, drug and brain stimulation reinforcement patterns differ, and dopamine antagonists affect them oppositely.
Purpose of the Study:
- To test if differing kinetics of drugs and brain stimulation explain their distinct reinforcement characteristics.
- To model drug kinetics using frequency-modulated brain stimulation.
Main Methods:
- Animals were trained to self-administer frequency-modulated brain stimulation designed to mimic drug kinetics.
- The effects of dopamine antagonists on this novel form of self-stimulation were assessed.
Main Results:
- Animals self-administered the frequency-modulated brain stimulation in a manner analogous to drug self-administration.
- Dopamine antagonists increased the rate of this brain stimulation self-administration, unlike their effect on conventional self-stimulation.
Conclusions:
- Differences in reinforcement patterns between drugs and brain stimulation may stem from their distinct kinetics.
- Frequency-modulated brain stimulation offers a novel model to study drug-like reinforcement and the effects of antagonists.