Decreased anxiety-like behavior in a selectively bred high nicotine-preferring rat line

Genetic vulnerability contributes significantly to the individual variability observed in nicotine dependence. Selective breeding for sensitivity to a particular effect of abused drugs has produced rodent lines useful for studying genetic vulnerability to drug addiction. Previous research showed that anxiety-related personality traits are associated with nicotine dependence. Therefore, we examined the differences in anxiety-like behavior between a high nicotine-preferring rat line and their controls. At the beginning of the study, all rats, naïve to any drug, were exposed sequentially to open field arena, marble-burying and elevated plus-maze paradigms. In the second step, all rats received nicotine in drinking water for 7 weeks. Behavioral tests were rerun on the final 2 weeks of chronic nicotine treatment. Elevated plus-maze testings under basal condition and during chronic nicotine treatment showed that the time spent on the open arms, preference for being in the open arms, and the latency to enter the closed arms were higher, whereas open arm avoidance index was lower in nicotine-preferring rats compared to the controls. In the open field test, nicotine-preferring rats spent longer time in the central zone and excreted less fecal pellets; they buried less marbles in the marble-burying test. These findings indicate a lower level of anxiety-like behavior in nicotine-preferring rat line under basal conditions and during chronic nicotine treatment. We conclude that lower anxiety level in nicotine-preferring rat line is consistent with novelty-seeking personality type and may increase vulnerability to nicotine dependence in this rat line.