Nicotine and ethanol interaction on conditioned taste aversions induced byboth drugs

The present study was designed to explore the interactive effects of nicoti ne and ethanol in the pretreatment and preexposure conditioned taste aversi on (CTA) paradigm. The first experiment examined the effects of ethanol pre treatment on a nicotine induced CTA. The second experiment examined the eff ects of nicotine pretreatment on an ethanol CTA. The results of these two e xperiments revealed an asymmetrical interaction between ethanol and nicotin e. Although nicotine pretreatment blocked an ethanol induced CTA, ethanol p retreatment merely attenuated a nicotine-induced CTA. These findings demons trated that ethanol and nicotine interact pharmacologically in a unidirecti onal fashion, suggesting some unique and unshared pharmacological propertie s of each agent. The third experiment of this study examined the effects of preexposure with ethanol on a nicotine-induced CTA, while the fourth exper iment examined the effects of preexposure with nicotine on an ethanol-induc ed CTA. These results revealed a symmetrical interaction between ethanol an d nicotine in that both agents equally blocked CTA to one and the other. In contrast to the pretreatment CTA paradigm, these results suggested that bo th ethanol and nicotine appear to be functionally related and share common stimulus properties. Taken together, the present study demonstrates that wh ile ethanol and nicotine are functionally related, they may also be endowed with unique unshared properties. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science Inc.