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Updated: Nov 17, 2025

A Conditioned Place Preference Protocol for Measuring Incubation of Craving in Rats
Published on: November 6, 2018
Cannabidiol efficiently suppressed the acquisition and expression of methamphetamine-induced conditioned place
Mahsa Anooshe1, Kiana Nouri1, Saeideh Karimi-Haghighi2
1Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology, Faculty of Pharmacy, Pharmaceutical Sciences Branch, Islamic Azad University, Tehran, Iran.
Abstract:
Methamphetamine (MET) is one of the most prevalently abused psychostimulants in the world with drastic repercussions. Several studies emphasized the inhibitory effect of Cannabidiol (CBD) on the reward properties of psychostimulants. The current investigation utilized conditioned place preference (CPP) to assay CBD's impact on MET's reward characteristic, including acquisition and expression phases of MET-induced CPP. Like our prior researches, animals received MET (1 mg/kg; sc) in a five-day schedule to induce CPP. The rats were given intracerebroventricular (ICV) microinjection of CBD (2, 10, and 50 μg/5 μL DMSO) during the 5-day conditioning phase in the CPP paradigm to highlight the CBD's impact on the development (acquisition) of MET-induced place preference. Furthermore, animals were treated with CBD (2, 10 and 50 μg/5 μL) in the lateral ventricle on the post-conditioning day to elucidate the effect of ICV injection of CBD on the expression of MET-induced CPP. It was revealed that CBD (10 and 50 μg/5 μL) microinjection profoundly inhibited both phases of MET-induced CPP without any side effect on the locomotion in animals were treated by MET injection over conditioning phase. Also, CBD's inhibitory impact was more potent in the acquisition phase than the expression phase of MET-induced CPP. Ultimately, the current research reported that CBD could be a beneficial compound to treat drug abuse however more investigations are needed.

