Drug Seeking Behavior of Amphetamine Addicted Sprague-Dawley Rats Is Eliminated after Nutritional Supplementation

Abstract

Aim: The effectiveness of nutritional supplementation on drug-seeking behavior of amphetamine-addicted rats during withdrawal was investigated using a biased conditioned place preference (CPP) paradigm. Method: Twenty-four male Sprague-Dawley rats exhibiting baseline preference for the black chamber during a 20-minute pre-conditioning exploration of the CPP box completed the study. On alternate days of an 8-day schedule, twelve rats (Group AMP) were randomly selected, given either amphetamine sulfate (5 mg/ml, i.p. ) and confined to the white chamber; or vehicle (1 ml saline, i.p. ) and confined to the black chamber. A significant increased percentage time spent and number of entries made by Group AMP to the drug-paired, white chamber on the test day confirmed amphetamine addiction. Group AMP subsequently received increasing doses of amphetamine over 6 days. Following acute drug withdrawal, their CPP performance was compared with that of vehicle treated rats (Group SAL). Groups AMP and SAL were equally divided and randomly assigned to animals fed chow reconstituted with the nutritional supplement (AMP-S and SAL-S) over 8 weeks or standard rat chow (AMP-N and SAL-N). CPP performances for all rats were determined blindly from video recordings following this period. Results: Nutritionally supplemented, amphetamine withdrawn rats (AMP-S) exhibited significantly decreased percentage entries and time spent in the white chamber (p < 0.05), indicating preference for the black chamber and diminished drug-seeking behavior. ANOVA revealed that after 8 weeks of dietary supplementation, AMP-S rats behaved like drug-na ? ve, control animals. Conclusion: Drug-seeking behavior by amphetamine-addicted animals was eliminated after treatment with a nutritionally supplemented diet.