Food-deprivation increases cocaine-induced conditioned place preference and locomotor activity in rats

Food-deprivation increases the reinforcing efficacy of cocaine and other drugs within self-administration experiments. In this study, the effects of food-deprivation on cocaine-induced conditioned place preference were investigated. Male Sprague-Dawley rats were assigned to one of two feeding conditions: satiated (with ad libitum food) or deprived (maintained at 80% of free-feeding body weights). During conditioning trials, on alternate days, rats received IP injections of cocaine (0.0, 2.5, 5.0, or 10.0 mg/kg; n = 12 per dose group) and were confined for 30 min in one of two distinct environments. On intervening days, the same rats were injected with saline and confined for 30 min in the opposite environment. After four cocaine and four saline trails, a 15-min choice test (with no injections) was given. During this time, the rats were able to move freely through a passageway between both environments. Relative to the food-satiated rats, the food-deprived rats showed a greater conditioned preference for the cocaine-paired environment during the choice test, greater cocaine-induced locomotor activity during conditioning trials, and a greater degree of sensitization to the activating effects of cocaine across conditioning trials. This study extends the general findings of food deprivation-induced increases in the reinforcing efficacy of cocaine to include the conditioned place preference paradigm.