Ibogaine enhances the expression of locomotor sensitization in rats chronically treated with cocaine.
K K Szumlinski, I M Maisonneuve, S D Glick
Pharmacology, biochemistry, and behavior July 1, 1999 DOI: 10.1016/s0091-3057(99)00038-6 via PubMed
Summary
AI-generated from the abstractA single injection of ibogaine, given 19 hours before a cocaine challenge, more strongly amplifies cocaine-induced movement in rats that have a history of chronic cocaine use than in rats without prior cocaine exposure. The effect grows larger after a second ibogaine treatment but disappears within 24 hours when ibogaine is no longer given. Tolerance to cocaine's stimulant effects appeared in rats that received only cocaine without ibogaine. These results show that ibogaine heightens sensitivity to cocaine's psychomotor effects, and the size of this enhancement depends on the animal's past experience with both ibogaine and cocaine.
Study at a glance
| Characteristics | Experimental study Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Population | Rats |
| Interventions | Ibogaine Cocaine |
| Dose | 40 mg/kg ibogaine, 7.5 mg/kg cocaine challenge, 15 mg/kg cocaine for chronic treatment |
| Duration | 19-hour pretreatment interval; 5-day chronic cocaine treatment; two series of treatments with 3-4 day interval; 24-hour follow-up after second series |
| Topics | Ibogaine |
| Keywords | Anti-addiction compound Cocaine Stimulant Stimulating effects |
| Citations | 14 |
| Key finding | Ibogaine pretreatment potentiates cocaine-induced locomotion more strongly in rats with a history of chronic cocaine exposure than in cocaine-naive rats, and the effect increases with a second ibogaine treatment but dissipates within 24 hours. |
Abstract
Pretreatment (19 h) with the putative antiaddictive agent, ibogaine, has been shown previously to potentiate cocaine-induced locomotion in rats. The present study demonstrates that the magnitude of this effect of ibogaine is dependent on the previous cocaine history of the animal, on the time following ibogaine treatment, and on the number of ibogaine treatments. Compared to rats with no previous cocaine experience, ibogaine pretreatment (40 mg/kg, IP, 19 h earlier) markedly enhanced the expression of locomotor sensitization in response to a cocaine challenge injection (7.5 mg/kg) in rats that were chronically treated with cocaine (15 mg/ kg, IP, daily for 5 days). Tolerance to cocaine-induced locomotor sensitization appeared to occur in vehicle-pretreated chronic cocaine controls. Following a second series of identical treatments (beginning 3-4 days after the initial treatment series), locomotor responding to the cocaine challenge was further enhanced by a second ibogaine injection in chronically cocaine-treated animals. Twenty-four hours later, when animals were challenged again with cocaine in the absence of any further ibogaine pretreatment, the effect of ibogaine had dissipated. Consistent with previous studies from this laboratory, these data demonstrate that ibogaine can enhance sensitivity to the psychomotor stimulant effect of cocaine. The results of the present study further indicate that the extent of this effect depends on the animal's history of exposure to both ibogaine and cocaine.