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Morphine-conditioned changes in locomotor activity: role of the conditioned stimulus.

Author
Abstract
:

When a multisensory environment was reliably paired with morphine (2 mg/kg) in rats, that environment, in a drug-free test, evoked a hyperactive conditioned response (CR). When an olfactory cue (banana odor) was the only stimulus element reliably paired with morphine, it also elicited a hyperactive CR. However, a gustatory cue (saccharin solution) evoked a hypoactive CR. This taste-elicited decrease in activity was dose dependent; morphine at 2 and 4 mg/kg conditioned hypoactivity, whereas a higher dose (8 mg/kg) did not. A robust conditioned saccharin aversion occurred only at the highest dose of morphine, suggesting disassociation between the hypoactive CR and taste aversion. A taste cue present during context conditioning also prevented either acquisition or expression of the hyperactive CR to the context. The modality of the conditioned stimulus is a critical determinant of the form of the CR in a morphine locomotor conditioning paradigm.

Year of Publication
:
1998
Journal
:
Experimental and clinical psychopharmacology
Volume
:
6
Issue
:
2
Number of Pages
:
131-8
ISSN Number
:
1064-1297
URL
:
http://content.apa.org/journals/pha/6/2/131
DOI
:
10.1037//1064-1297.6.2.131
Short Title
:
Exp Clin Psychopharmacol
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