Learning the morphine conditioned cue preference: cue configuration determines effects of lesions

The morphine conditioned cue preference was investigated using two different apparatus configurations. In one configuration, with a clear Plexiglas partition separating the drug-paired and unpaired compartments, rats could see the cues in both compartments while in either one. In the other configuration, with an opaque wood partition separating the two compartments, rats could see the cues in only one compartment at a time. The experiment had three phases: a session of pre-exposure to the entire apparatus; four 2-day training trials during each of which rats received pairings of 5 mg/Kg morphine sulphate with one compartment and saline with the other (compartments and order counterbalanced), and a test session in which the undrugged rats moved freely between the compartments while the time spent in each was measured. Four groups of rats were trained using the opaque partition in all three phases. Normal rats and rats with amygdala or nucleus accumbens lesions exhibited preferences for their morphine-paired compartments; rats with fimbria-fornix lesions had no preferences. Four additional groups were trained using the clear partition during pre-exposure, the opaque partition during training and the clear partition during testing. Normal rats and rats with fimbria-fornix lesions exhibited preferences, rats with amygdala or nucleus accumbens lesions had no preferences. This interaction between lesioned structures and the apparatus configuration is accounted for by the idea that different types of learning produced the preference for morphine-paired cues in the two apparatus configurations. Each type was learned in a different memory system and so was impaired by different lesions. These findings contribute to understanding the nature of the learning processes that produce the morphine CCP.