In rats trained to reliably self-administer cocaine, the cumulative drug level was calculated during sessions in which cocaine was administered either contingently or non-contingently. During both types of sessions a high rate of responding was observed only when cocaine levels were above the priming threshold but below the satiety threshold. When the levels of non-contingently administered cocaine were maintained between the priming and satiety thresholds for at least 5 h rats continuously maintained high rates of responding. Although it is generally assumed that rats are responding for cocaine during self-administration sessions, the persistence of responding during non-contingent administration is consistent with responding being induced by cocaine. Therefore, in contrast to the basic assumptions underlying the operant theory of self-administration behavior, choice, contingency and reinforcement are not necessary to explain acquired cocaine self-administration. The presented data demonstrate that there is no ascending limb of the dose-response curve and that the cocaine priming and satiety thresholds delineate the lower and upper limits, respectively, of a cocaine "compulsion zone". It is concluded that the self-administration paradigm is the sum of cocaine induced responding and cocaine induced satiety and which of these cocaine-induced effects occur at any time is dependent on the cocaine level. This novel pharmacokinetic/pharmacodynamic theory provides a basis for a comprehensive understanding of the cocaine self-administration paradigm.
The predominantly human sequence anti-cocaine monoclonal antibody (mAb), 2E2, has high affinity and specificity for cocaine and antagonizes cocaine distribution to the brain in mice. To determine whether 2E2 can alter the self-administration of cocaine in rats, both cocaine-induced reinstatement (priming) of self-administration, and the rates of cocaine consumption were assessed during daily sessions. After self-administration training, the rats' cocaine priming threshold values were stable over a 2-week baseline period. Furthermore, the rates of cocaine consumption at unit doses of 0.3 and 3.0 mol/kg were steady within sessions and stable between sessions. Then, 2E2 (120 mg/kg i.v.) or an equivalent dose of nonspecific human polyclonal IgG (control) was infused and daily sessions continued. 2E2 produced an initial, approximately 3-fold, increase in the cocaine priming threshold that declined toward baseline values over the subsequent 3 weeks, with an effect t 1/2 of approximately 4 days. In contrast to the substantial increase in the cocaine priming threshold, 2E2 produced only modest dose-dependent increases (42 and 18%) in the cocaine consumption rates, and these also gradually declined toward baseline values. There was no significant effect of the control IgG on the priming threshold or rates of consumption of cocaine. After infusion, antibody blood concentrations declined over time, and a two-compartment pharmacokinetic model generated values for the distribution and elimination half-lives of 0.5 and 11.6 days for 2E2 and 0.4 and 6.0 days for control IgG. 2E2 had a long-lasting effect on cocaine-induced priming, which may predict its efficacy as an immunotherapy for cocaine abuse.The drug-induced reinstatement (priming) of drug selfadministration behavior represents an animal model of some aspects of the relapse process (de Wit and Stewart, 1981;Shalev et al., 2002) in addicts. The cumulative concentration of cocaine is a critical determinant of the probability of reinstating cocaine self-administration in rats (Norman et al., , 2002. Because the site of action for cocaine is presumably in the brain, decreasing the drug concentrations reaching the brain would be expected to decrease the probability of relapse. Antibodies with high affinity and specificity for cocaine are hypothesized to sequester cocaine in the peripheral circulation and reduce its entry to the brain (Kosten and Owens, 2005). Pharmacokinetic antagonism is defined as a decrease in the concentration of an agonist at its site of action. Typically, the mechanism by which this is achieved is by increasing the rate of agonist clearance (Rang et al., 2007). Although this may occur with antibody Fab fragments targeting slowly cleared drugs such as digoxin (Bateman, 2004), this would not occur with monoclonal antibodies (mAb) targeting rapidly cleared drugs such as cocaine or nicotine (Keyler et al., 2005). Antibodies generally act as chemical antagonists by binding to and thereby reversibly inactivating drugs. As a consequence, anti-drug an...
Summary Competitive dopamine receptor antagonists increase the rate of cocaine self-administration. As the rate of self-administration at a particular unit dose is determined by the satiety threshold and the elimination half-life (t1/2) of cocaine, we investigated whether dopamine receptor antagonists altered these parameters. The plasma cocaine concentration at the time of each self-administration was constant during a session demonstrating that this satiety threshold concentration represents an equiactive cocaine concentration. The plasma cocaine concentration at the time of self-administration was increased by SCH23390, consistent with pharmacological theory. In rats trained to reliably self-administer cocaine, SCH23390 had no effect on the plasma steady-state cocaine concentration produced by constant infusions of cocaine. Therefore, this antagonist had no effect on cocaine t1/2 at a dose that accelerated cocaine self-administration. A continuous cocaine infusion at a rate that maintained steady state concentrations above the satiety threshold stopped self-administration. SCH23390, or the D2 dopamine receptor antagonist (−) eticlopride, reinstated self-administration in the presence of the constant cocaine infusion. This is consistent with SCH23390 and eticlopride raising the satiety threshold above the steady state level produced by the constant cocaine infusion. It is concluded that the antagonist-induced acceleration of cocaine self-administration is the result of a pharmacokinetic/pharmacodynamic interaction whereby the rate of cocaine elimination is faster at the higher concentrations, as dictated by first-order kinetics, so that cocaine levels decline more rapidly to the elevated satiety threshold. This results in the decreased inter-injection intervals.
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