Carbon Disulfide Mediates Socially-Acquired Nicotine Self-Administration

The social environment plays a critical role in smoking initiation as well as relapse. We previously reported that rats acquired nicotine self-administration with an olfactogustatory cue only when another rat consuming the same cue was present during self-administration. Because carbon disulfide (CS 2 ) mediates social learning of food preference in rodents, we hypothesized that socially acquired nicotine self-administration is also mediated by CS 2 . We tested this hypothesis by placing female adolescent Sprague-Dawley rats in operant chambers equipped with two lickometers. Licking on the active spout meeting a fixed-ratio 10 schedule triggered the concurrent delivery of an i.v. infusion (saline, or 30 µg/kg nicotine, free base) and an appetitive olfactogustatory cue containing CS 2 (0–500 ppm). Rats that self-administered nicotine with the olfactogustatory cue alone licked less on the active spout than on the inactive spout. Adding CS 2 to the olfactogustatory cue reversed the preference for the spouts. The group that received 500 ppm CS 2 and the olfactogustatory cue obtained a significantly greater number of nicotine infusions than other groups. After extinction training, the original self-administration context reinstated nicotine-seeking behavior in all nicotine groups. In addition, in rats that received the olfactogustatory cue and 500 ppm CS 2 during SA, a social environment where the nicotine-associated olfactory cue is present, induced much stronger drug-seeking behavior compared to a social environment lacking the olfactogustatory cue. These data established that CS 2 is a critical signal that mediates social learning of nicotine self-administration with olfactogustatory cues in rodents. Additionally, these data showed that the social context can further enhance the drug-seeking behavior induced by the drug-taking environment.