The suppression of ethanol self injection by buprenorphine

The schedule induced self-injection procedure was used to establish ethanol self-injection in 16 rats. Pretreatment with an injection of 0.3 mg/kg buprenorphine significantly reduced ethanol self-injection in a group of 8 rats. This effect was not found in a second group of 8 rats which received saline pretreatment. The findings provide support for an involvement of buprenorphine, in ethanol self-injection, which cannot be explained in terms of opiate induced shifts in taste preference. From the present data it cannot be determined whether the agonist or antagonist opiate properties of buprenorphine cause the blocking effect.