Cocaine-induced conditioned taste aversions in rats

In two separate studies cocaine hydrochloride at doses between 10--36 mg/kg was found to induce a dose-related conditioned taste aversion (C.T.A.) to saccharin, and to be an effective conditioning agent even when injections of the drug were delayed 90 min after saccharin intake. These data contrast with conditioning agent when unjectuons of the drug were delayed 90 min after saccharin intake. These data contrast with an earlier report [3] which suggested that cocaine was totally devoid of aversive properties. However, they do indicate that cocaine is only a weak aversion-inducing agent. In contrast to other drugs, the doses of cocaine which are required to induce a C.T.A. are very large relative to those commonly employed in behavioural studies. The weak potency of cocaine in inducing C.T.A. may be related to the drug's marked potency in the self-administration paradigm. Some possible determinants of cocaine's weak effects are discussed.