Continuous exposure to dizocilpine facilitates the acquisition and escalation of cocaine consumption in male Sprague-Dawley rats

Background: Blocking N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) glutamate receptors (NMDARs) prevents cocaine locomotor sensitization, but facilitates escalation of cocaine self-administration and produces ambiguous effects on acquisition of cocaine self-administration. This study used a recently described model of acquisition and escalation to test the hypothesis that continuous NMDAR antagonism functionally increases the effects of a given dose of cocaine. Methods: We assessed acquisition of cocaine self-administration (0.6 mg/kg/infusion) in rats treated continuously with either vehicle or the NMDAR antagonist dizocilpine (0.4 mg/kg/day) for 14 consecutive 2 h fixed ratio 1 (FR1) sessions. In a separate experiment that assessed the effect of dizocilpine treatment on escalation of cocaine self-administration, rats acquired cocaine self-administration (0.6 mg/kg/infusion) prior to vehicle or dizocilpine treatment. Then, immediately post-acquisition, rats were treated continuously with either vehicle or dizocilpine and allowed to self-administer either 0.6 or 1.2 mg/kg/infusion cocaine for an additional seven consecutive 2 h FR1 sessions. Results: Relative to vehicle-treated rats, a significantly greater percentage of dizocilpine-treated rats acquired cocaine self-administration. During the escalation experiment, both vehicle- and dizocilpine-treated rats escalated intake of 1.2 mg/kg/infusion cocaine. Whereas vehicle-treated rats exhibited stable intake of 0.6 mg/kg/infusion cocaine, dizocilpine-treated rats escalated intake of this moderate cocaine dose to levels indistinguishable from intake levels produced by self-administration of the high cocaine dose (i.e., 1.2 mg/kg/infusion). Conclusions: These findings suggest that chronic NMDAR blockade potentiates, rather than attenuates, cocaine's effects and argue for reconsideration of the role of NMDARs in cocaine "addiction-like" behavior. (C) 2014 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.