Response rate decreasing effects of naloxone during chronic sucrose availability

Behav Pharmacol. 2017 Aug;28(5):401-404. doi: 10.1097/FBP.0000000000000306.

Abstract

Studies in animal models suggest that sugar deprivation following excessive intake elicits some opioid-like withdrawal signs. In the present study, opioid-like effects of excessive sucrose intake were further characterized in C57BL/6 mice by comparing the effects of the opioid antagonist naloxone on food-reinforced responding before and during sucrose availability and, in parallel experiments, following chronic morphine administration. Results show that naloxone produced time-dependent and dose-dependent decreases in operant response rates after 4 weeks of excessive sucrose consumption, and that these effects were comparable with those produced by chronic morphine injections. These findings extend the observation that excessive sucrose consumption may produce opioid-like withdrawal signs, and suggest that operant assays of withdrawal-suppressed behaviors may be useful for further study of excessive sucrose consumption.

MeSH terms

  • Analgesics, Opioid / pharmacology
  • Animals
  • Conditioning, Operant / drug effects
  • Dose-Response Relationship, Drug
  • Male
  • Mice
  • Mice, Inbred C57BL
  • Morphine / pharmacology
  • Morphine Dependence
  • Naloxone / metabolism
  • Naloxone / pharmacology*
  • Narcotic Antagonists / pharmacology
  • Reaction Time / drug effects*
  • Receptors, Opioid, mu / antagonists & inhibitors
  • Reinforcement Schedule
  • Substance Withdrawal Syndrome
  • Sucrose / administration & dosage
  • Sucrose / metabolism
  • Sucrose / pharmacology

Substances

  • Analgesics, Opioid
  • Narcotic Antagonists
  • Receptors, Opioid, mu
  • Naloxone
  • Sucrose
  • Morphine