Drug preferences in humans

Area of Science:

• Psychopharmacology
• Neuroscience
• Addiction Research

Background:

• Animal self-administration models predict drug abuse liability.
• Human studies traditionally rely on subjective effects to assess drug reinforcement.

Purpose of the Study:

• To combine drug self-administration and subjective effect measures in human subjects.
• To evaluate the utility of these combined approaches in predicting drug abuse liability.

Main Methods:

• Subjects underwent nine sessions, initially receiving drugs and completing mood questionnaires.
• Later sessions involved subjects choosing between drugs (d-amphetamine, fenfluramine, diazepam, placebo).
• Subjective effects and drug preference were recorded and analyzed.

Main Results:

• Subjects preferred d-amphetamine over placebo, though subjective effects didn't correlate with preference.
• Amphetamine preference decreased over repeated sessions, while subjective effects remained stable.
• Subjects preferred placebo over diazepam, with diazepam producing typical sedative effects.
• Fenfluramine preference was observed, but its subjective effects did not differ from placebo.

Conclusions:

• Drug self-administration procedures in humans are valuable for assessing abuse potential.
• Subjective drug effects may not consistently predict drug preference or self-administration behavior.
• Integrating behavioral and subjective measures offers a more comprehensive understanding of drug reinforcement.