Context gives meaning. Commentary on Badiani and Robinson Drug-induced neurobehavioral plasticity: the role of environmental context

Abstract

A Badiani and TE Robinson (2004) review findings which show that the neurobiological profile of sensitization to a drug depends on the context of the drug experience. The commentary notes that such findings are consistent with the concept of drugs as functional stimuli and that the meaning of stimuli is provided by context. Furthermore, it suggests that psychostimulant drugs generate cues that are affective in nature and that the organism overlays a meaning on these signals that is congruent with the motivational state in the current surroundings. Finally, it questions whether sensitization lacks specificity in animal models of psychiatric disorders but points out that models of specific disorders may be produced by inducing sensitization in the appropriate context.

Differential effects of clorgyline on sensitization to quinpirole in rats tested in small and large environments

“…However, regardless of the ultimate molecular identity of the MAOI-sensitive site, it is important to establish the generality of the clorgyline effect on quinpirole sensitization. For instance, sensitization to many drugs (including quinpirole) is subject to modulation by environmental context (Szechtman 2004;Badiani and Robinson 2004). This poses the question as to whether the effect of clorgyline on quinpirole sensitization (and by implication, the MAOI-sensitive site) is similarly open to environmental modulation.…”