ORBi: Quertemont Etienne - Conditioned stimulus preference after acetaldehyde but not ethanol injections

Reference : Conditioned stimulus preference after acetaldehyde but not ethanol injections


	Document type :	Scientific journals : Article
	Discipline(s) :	Human health sciences : Pharmacy, pharmacology & toxicology Human health sciences : Psychiatry Social & behavioral sciences, psychology : Neurosciences & behavior
	To cite this reference:	http://hdl.handle.net/2268/10272

Title :	Conditioned stimulus preference after acetaldehyde but not ethanol injections
Language :	English
Author, co-author :	Quertemont, Etienne [Université de Liège - ULg > Département des sciences cognitives > Psychologie quantitative >]
	De Witte, Philippe [Université Catholique de Louvain - UCL > > Biologie du comportement > >]
Publication date :	2001
Journal title :	Pharmacology, Biochemistry & Behavior
Publisher :	Elsevier
Volume :	68
Pages :	449-454
Audience :	International
ISSN :	0091-3057
City :	Tarrytown
Country :	NY
Keywords :	[en] Ethanol ; Acetaldehyde ; Place conditioning
	[fr] Reinforcement
Abstract :	[en] Acetaldehyde, the first ethanol metabolite, has been suggested to mediate some of the behavioral effects of ethanol and particularly its reinforcing properties, although this later hypothesis remains extremely controversial. While several studies demonstrated the reinforcing effects of brain acetaldehyde, blood acetaldehyde accumulation is believed to be primarily aversive. In the present study, a conditioned reinforcement procedure has been used to investigate the reinforcing and/or aversive effects of intraperitoneal injections of both acetaldehyde and ethanol in Wistar rats. An olfactory stimulus was paired with daily injections of either ethanol (0, 0.25, 0.5, 1 and 2 g/kg) or acetaldehyde (0, 10, 20, 100 and 150 mg/kg). After eight conditioning sessions, all rats were tested for their stimulus preference or aversion. The results show that conditioning with small, 0.25 and 0.5 g/kg, ethanol doses induced neither preference nor aversion for the olfactory cue. In contrast, higher ethanol doses (1.0 and 2.0 g/kg) resulted in significant stimulus aversions. Acetaldehyde conditioning led to a biphasic stimulus preference, with a maximal preference around 20 mg/kg acetaldehyde. No evidence of aversive effects was found with increasing doses of acetaldehyde, even with concentrations close to the lethal limit. The present study clearly shows that systemic acetaldehyde injections induced significant stimulus preferences. This suggests that acetaldehyde may be, at least in part, responsible for the reinforcing effects of alcohol intake.
Research units :	Centre de Neurosciences Cognitives et Comportementales
Funders :	Fonds de la Recherche Scientifique (Communauté française de Belgique) - F.R.S.-FNRS ; Institut de Recherches Economiques sur les Boissons (IREB) ; LIPHA
Target :	Researchers ; Professionals
Permalink :	http://hdl.handle.net/2268/10272

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