Nature Neuroscience
3, 1073 - 1074 (2000)
doi:10.1038/80577
Self-administration behavior is maintained by the psychoactive ingredient
of marijuana in squirrel monkeysGianluigi Tanda1, 2, 3, 4, Patrik Munzar1, 4
& Steven R. Goldberg11
Preclinical Pharmacology Section, Behavioral Neuroscience
Branch, NIDA, NIH, 5500 Nathan Shock Drive, Baltimore
, Maryland 21224, USA
2
Department of Pharmacology, Georgetown University School
of Medicine, 3900 Reservoir Road, Washington,
DC, 20007, USA
3
Department of Toxicology and CNR Center for Neuropharmacology,
University of Cagliari, Viale A. Diaz, I-09126
Cagliari, Italy
4
The first two authors contributed equally to this work
Correspondence should be addressed to Steven R. Goldberg sgoldber@intra.nida.nih.govMany attempts to obtain reliable self-administration behavior by laboratory
animals with delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), the psychoactive ingredient
in marijuana, have been unsuccessful1,
2,
3,
4,
5. Because self-administration
behavior has been demonstrated in laboratory animals for almost all other
psychoactive drugs abused by humans6, as well as for nicotine,
the psychoactive ingredient in tobacco7, these studies would
seem to indicate that marijuana has less potential for abuse. Here we show
persistent intravenous self-administration behavior by monkeys for doses of
THC lower than doses used in previous studies, but comparable to doses in
marijuana smoke inhaled by humans.
|
