Clozapine attenuates cocaine conditioned place preference

Clozapine, an atypical neuroleptic, has dopamine and serotonin antagonist actions that suggest its potential as a cocaine abuse pharmacotherapy. Yet, self-administration and discriminative stimulus studies in animals have reported both an enhancement and a partial blockade of cocaine's behavioral effects with clozapine. The present study examines further the effects of clozapine on cocaine conditioned place preference. Clozapine (10 mg/kg, s.c.) treatment significantly attenuated the development of cocaine (10 mg/kg, i.p.) conditioned place preference. These results, coupled with research that shows clozapine has limited extrapyramidal side effects, suggest that it should be considered as a pharmacotherapy for cocaine abuse.