Anxiety increases the place conditioning induced by cocaine in rats

Animal Models of Drug Addiction

“…During the classic 5-min test session on the EPM a variety of behaviours are measured including the ratio of open and closed arms entries, time spent in the open and closed arms, as well as self-grooming which are all indices of anxiety. High levels of anxiety including high grooming behaviour and a low percentage of time spent in the open arms of the EPM have been associated with an enhanced propensity to acquire cocaine CPP [202] as well as an increased motivation to self-administer cocaine [203], but see [204]. Trait anxiety has also been associated with an enhanced preference for alcohol [205][206], consistent with the notion that alcohol use may self-medicate underlying mood disorders related to anxiety and stress [207][208].…”

High anxiety is a predisposing endophenotype for loss of control over cocaine, but not heroin, self-administration in rats

“…The close relationship between trait-like anxiety and increased propensity to escalate cocaine SA may seem difficult to reconcile with reports that cocaine promotes anxietylike behavior in both human users (Anthony et al 1989;Bystritsky et al 1991) and in animals Ettenberg et al 1999;Blanchard et al , 2000. However, it has previously been shown that rats displaying high anxiety on the EPM have an increased tendency to drink an oral solution of cocaine (Walker et al 2009), an enhanced motivation for the drug under a progressive-ratio schedule of reinforcement (Homberg et al 2002; but see, Bush and Vaccarino (2007)), and acquire a cocaine conditioned place preference whereas LA rats do not (Pelloux et al 2009). One explanation may be that the anxiogenic effects of a b c d Fig.…”

“…In preclinical studies, high anxiety as measured in the elevated plus maze (EPM) (Pellow et al 1985) predicts increased propensity to develop conditioned place preference for cocaine (Pelloux et al 2009), as well as higher oral intake levels (Walker et al 2009), and increased motivation to self-administer cocaine (Homberg et al 2002). Additionally, exposure to, or withdrawal from, cocaine and heroin increases anxiety (Rogerio and Takahashi 1992;Schulteis et al 1998;Zhou et al 2003;Le Merrer et al 2006;Ambrose-Lanci et al 2010;Salas-Ramirez et al 2010).…”

Temporal and dose-dependent differences in simultaneously-induced cocaine hypervigilance and conditioned-place-preference in marmoset monkeys

“…In contrast, animals with high basal activity (and low trait anxiety) may be hyper-aroused by cocaine. Heightened levels of anxiety may hinder the performance in contextual-learning tasks, such as the present cocaine CPP (Seymour and Wagner, 2008; however see Pelloux et al, 2009). In addition, higher levels of anxiety induced by the 7 mg/kg dose may also have obstructed a possible association between the CPP effect and pre-CPP behaviors.…”