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Exercise is Associated with Increased Drug‐Taking in Rats that Self‐Administer Methamphetamine at Low Levels
Author(s) -
Wright Mayo Jerry,
Davis Sophia A,
Dickinson Glen D,
Taffe Michael A
Publication year - 2010
Publication title -
the faseb journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.709
H-Index - 277
eISSN - 1530-6860
pISSN - 0892-6638
DOI - 10.1096/fasebj.24.1_supplement.765.11
Subject(s) - meth , methamphetamine , self administration , drug , medicine , pharmacology , wheel running , psychology , chemistry , monomer , organic chemistry , acrylate , polymer
Objective About 1% of young adults in the U.S. report using methamphetamine (METH) within the past year. Although METH is commonly used at dance parties, little is known about how physical activity influences use. Experiments were conducted to determine the relationship between voluntary exercise and METH self‐administration. Methods Rats were trained to self‐administer METH in chambers that contained both drug self‐administration apparatus and a running wheel. Rats were initially trained to self‐administer METH without wheel access. Once performance stabilized, rats were permitted access to the running wheel and the METH‐reinforced response lever concurrently. Results Rats self‐administered METH at low levels prior to wheel access and the mean number of drug infusions taken during each session more than tripled after wheel‐access was permitted. Wheel running was stable within individual across sessions. The number of responses on the inactive lever was not significantly related to the dose of METH. Conclusions In these experiments, voluntary exercise was associated with increased METH self‐administration in rats that had previously demonstrated low levels of drug self‐administration. These results suggest that reinforcer competition is not the sole factor mediating effects of exercise on drug self‐administration. Research supported by National Institute of Drug Abuse grant R01 DA024705.