Motivational properties of buprenorphine as assessed by place and taste conditioning in rats

Buprenorphine, a mixed agonist-antagonist opioid with considerable analgesic activity, is currently indicated as a therapeutic agent with low abuse potential. Nevertheless, buprenorphine abuse has been recently reported from some countries. Thus the present experiments were performed to characterize further the motivational properties of buprenorphine in rats. Rewarding and aversive effects were assessed by place preference and taste aversion conditioning, respectively. It was found that buprenorphine (0.025, 0.050, 0.100 mg/kg SC) causes a significant increase in the amount of time spent on the conditioned side, but no significant decrease in saccharin consumption. Therefore buprenorphine data are not consistent with the general finding that psychoactive drugs cause rewarding and aversive effects within a similar dose range.