Nicotine dependency: animal studies

Publisher Website
Google Scholar
Abstract
A central requirement in definitions of drug dependence is that a dependence- producing drug will engender behaviour aimed at securing additional quantities of the drug for consumption (Edwards et al. 1982; Meisch and Thompson 1974; Spealman and Goldberg 1978). Other concomitants may include the development of tolerance to effects of the drug, and withdrawal syndromes that occur when drug administration is discontinued. Strategies developed in behavioural pharmacology have led to the development of experimental animal models for human drug taking behaviour; such models have been used to generate a substantial body of data on the major pharmacological groups of dependence-producing drugs. An important distinction to be made is that physiological dependence (characterized by onset of a withdrawal syndrome when drug administration is discontinued) may be present, but is not a necessary component in the maintenance of self-administration behaviour. For example, even drugs which are capable of producing severe physiological dependence when high enough doses are taken (such as the opiates, alcohol, and barbiturates) may maintain self-administration behaviour when drug doses and frequency of access are employed which prevent the development of demonstrable physiological dependence (Goldberg 1976). This chapter will review and discuss recent studies of nicotine self- administration with emphasis on methodological and interpretive issues, studies which have led to variable interpretations of data regarding the efficacy of nicotine in maintaining self-administration behaviour in animals. The potential of nicotine to produce tolerance with chronic exposure, and withdrawal symptoms upon termination of chronic exposure, will also be reviewed.

This publication has 0 references indexed in Scilit: