Chronic pre-exposure to methamphetamine following 31 days of withdrawal impairs sexual performance but not sexual conditioning in male Japanese quail

B. Levi Bolin, Chana K. Akins

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

6 Scopus citations

Abstract

In the current study, male quail were administered methamphetamine (3.0 or 5.6. mg/kg IP) or saline once daily for 10 days and locomotor activity was assessed. Following a 31-day withdrawal period, sexual conditioning trials were conducted such that a conditioned stimulus (CS) was presented prior to a copulatory opportunity with a female quail. Male quail treated with methamphetamine (5.6. mg/kg) showed a decrease in locomotor activity from Trial 1 to Trial 10 suggesting a potential tolerance effect. Following the 31-day withdrawal period, all male quail that received the CS paired with a copulatory opportunity showed enhanced approach to the CS, regardless of treatment history. Thus, chronic pre-exposure to methamphetamine did not alter sexual conditioning. In contrast, chronic pre-exposure to methamphetamine (3.0. mg/kg) decreased the frequency of successful copulations suggesting that it impaired sexual performance. The findings suggest that methamphetamine may differentially affect the neural circuitry involved in motivational systems compared with those involved in consummatory aspects of sexual behavior. These effects may last long after drug cessation.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)177-183
Number of pages7
JournalBehavioural Processes
Volume91
Issue number2
DOIs
StatePublished - Oct 2012

Bibliographical note

Funding Information:
This work was submitted in partial fulfillment of a Master's degree requirement for B.L. Bolin. It was supported by NIDA grant DA00508 awarded to C.K. Akins and NIDA training grant T32 DA007304 entitled “Research Training in Drug Abuse Behavior” awarded to B.L. Bolin (T. Garrity, Program Director). We thank Luke Cornett, Grant Harris, and Katie Perkins for their help with data collection and animal care. We also thank NIDA for providing the methamphetamine used in this study.

Keywords

  • Drug tolerance
  • Locomotor activity
  • Methamphetamine
  • Motivation
  • Pavlovian conditioning
  • Sexual behavior, Aves

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Animal Science and Zoology
  • Behavioral Neuroscience

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