Chronic forced swim stress produces subsensitivity to nicotine

Twice daily injections of saline reduce the thermic response to nicotine in the rat. The authors hypothesized that this was due to the stress of twice-daily handling and injection. However, the injection of saline is not a classic stressor. The hypothesis that stress blunts thermic responsiveness to nicotine was, therefore, tested using a classic form of chronic inescapable stress. Rats (n = 12) were subjected to a 14-day, twice daily course of inescapable cold water swim stress using a repeated measures design. Thermic responsiveness of nicotine was measured at baseline and every 7 days thereafter for 49 days. The mean response to nicotine (1.0 mg/kg IP) differed significantly across time, F(7,88) = 10.6, p less than 0.0001. Mean thermic responsiveness (+/- SEM) decreased from -0.75 +/- 0.09 at baseline to -0.41 +/- 0.18 degrees C (54.7% of baseline) following 14 days of forced swim stress. This change was not significant. However, the thermic response to nicotine was -0.14 +/- 0.13 degrees C (p less than 0.05), +0.55 +/- 0.12 degrees C (p less than 0.05), and +0.04 +/- 0.11 degrees C (p less than 0.05) 7, 14, and 21 days following the discontinuation of forced swim stress. The mean response did not differ from baseline 28 days following the last session of forced swim stress. The data suggest that in the recovery phase the animals ceased to be sensitive to nicotine. These findings support the hypothesis that a chronic stressor can produce subsensitivity to nicotine.