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Reduced Sensitivity to Ethanol Reward, But Not Ethanol Aversion, in Mice Lacking 5=HT 1B Receptors
Author(s) -
Risinger Fred O.,
Bormann Nancy M.,
Oakes Roger A.
Publication year - 1996
Publication title -
alcoholism: clinical and experimental research
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.267
H-Index - 153
eISSN - 1530-0277
pISSN - 0145-6008
DOI - 10.1111/j.1530-0277.1996.tb01140.x
Subject(s) - conditioned place preference , knockout mouse , taste aversion , ethanol , serotonergic , conditioning , stimulus (psychology) , receptor , chemistry , endocrinology , medicine , classical conditioning , psychology , neuroscience , taste , serotonin , biochemistry , biology , statistics , mathematics , psychotherapist
Various serotonergic receptor systems are thought to influence the motivational effects of ethanol. This experiment characterized the acquisition of ethanol‐induced conditioned taste aversion and ethanol‐induced conditioned place preference in mutant knockout mice lacking 5‐HT 1B receptors. In the taste conditioning procedure, adult homozygous knockout mice (‐/‐) and homozygous wild‐type mice (+/+) received access to 0.2 M NaCl solution, followed immediately by intraperitoneal injection of 0 to 4 g/kg of ethanol. Ethanol produced dose‐dependent conditioned taste aversion that was the same in both genotypes. In the place conditioning procedure, knockout and wild‐type mice received six pairings of a tactile stimulus with ethanol (2 g/kg, ip). A different tactile stimulus was paired with saline. Ethanol produced increases in locomotor activity, with wild‐type mice showing higher levels of ethanol‐stimulated activity than knockout mice during conditioning trials 5 and 6. Wild‐type mice demonstrated conditioned place preference for the ethanol‐paired stimulus. In contrast, knockout mice showed no evidence of place conditioning. These results are generally consistent with an important role for serotonergic systems in ethanol reward and specifically indicate that 5‐HT 1b receptors are important for ethanol's rewarding effects but not for ethanol's aversive effects.