NONASSOCIATIVE PROCESSES AND PLACE PREFERENCES CONDITIONED BY TESTOSTERONE

Recent research has suggested that anabolic-androgenic steroids (AAS) can have positive reinforcing effects in individuals taking chronic hi gh doses in an attempt to improve muscular appearance or to enhance at hletic performance. In the present studies, the positive reinforcing e fficacy of AAS was investigated in Sprague-Dawley rats by assessing wh ether testosterone could produce a conditioned place preference (CPP). In Experiment 1, animals administered either 1 mg of testosterone or 8 mg/kg of morphine paired with a specific side of the conditioning ch amber showed an increase in the amount of time spent on the putative c onditioned side, suggestive of a CPP. Experiment 2 showed that this in crease was not differential across groups receiving context-testostero ne pairings and those receiving unpaired exposure to testosterone and the context. Animals that received morphine paired with the context, h owever, showed evidence of a CPP as compared with animals that receive d unpaired exposure to morphine and the context. Experiment 3 demonstr ated that a CPP could not be established using two lower doses of test osterone (10 and 100 mu g) It is concluded that it is unlikely that te stosterone can produce positive subjective states that can be conditio ned to environmental stimuli. Furthermore, the importance of employing drug-exposed nonassociative control groups in the CPP paradigm is emp hasized.