Abstract
Bupropion is a promising candidate medication for methamphetamine use disorder. As such, we used a preclinical model of drug-taking to determine the effects of bupropion on the reinforcing effects of methamphetamine (0.025, 0.05 or 0.1 mg/kg/infusion). Specificity was determined by investigating the effects of bupropion on responding maintained by sucrose. In the self-administration study, rats were surgically prepared with indwelling jugular catheters and trained to self-administer methamphetamine under an FR5 schedule. A separate group of rats was trained to press a lever for sucrose. Once responding stabilized, rats were pretreated with bupropion (0, 10, 30 and 60 mg/kg IP) 5 min before chamber placement in a unique testing order. Following acute testing, rats were then repeatedly pretreated with 30 and 60 mg/kg bupropion. Acute treatments of bupropion dose dependently reduced drug intake for 0.025-0.1 mg/kg methamphetamine; sucrose deliveries were only reduced with the high bupropion dose. Repeated exposure to 60 mg/kg bupropion before the session resulted in a consistent decrease in methamphetamine intake (0.05 and 0.1 mg/kg) and sucrose deliveries. Considered together, this pattern of findings demonstrates that bupropion decreases responding for methamphetamine, but the effects are only somewhat specific.
Original language | English (US) |
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Pages (from-to) | 54-62 |
Number of pages | 9 |
Journal | Drug and Alcohol Dependence |
Volume | 100 |
Issue number | 1-2 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - Feb 1 2009 |
Keywords
- Reinforcement
- Stimulant
- Substance use disorder
- Wellbutrin
- Zyban
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Toxicology
- Pharmacology
- Psychiatry and Mental health
- Pharmacology (medical)