CONDITIONED TASTE-AVERSION IS A CONFOUND IN BEHAVIORAL-STUDIES THAT REPORT A REDUCTION IN THE REINFORCING EFFECTS OF DRUGS

Pharmacologic agents with a potential to attenuate the reinforcing pro perties of drugs of abuse may have an important role in the treatment of drug addiction. The reduction of drug self-administration and sweet solution intake are two common animal models employed to screen for p romising therapeutic agents. When these agents are effective in suppre ssing the behavior maintained by drugs of abuse, the cause is usually attributed to a neuronal mechanism such as the modification of neurotr ansmitters that subserve reinforcement. These experiments present data for an alternate interpretation which suggest that some of these agen ts produce a conditioned taste aversion (CTA) that acts as a confoundi ng variable in the screening of potential therapeutic agents. Both car bamazepine and isradipine were shown to establish a CTA at doses repor ted to attenuate the reinforcing properties of drugs of abuse. It is c oncluded that CTA represents a potential experimental confound in stud ies of pharmacologic agents that appear to attenuate the reinforcing p roperties of drugs. These results suggest that screening for a CTA is necessary in any paradigm that measures the suppression of consummator y behavior in response to pharmacologic intervention.