Research has revealed that schizophrenics are significantly more likely to smoke cigarettes than the general population, and consume nicotine products at a much more prevalent rate. Further exacerbating this issue, it has been previously demonstrated in clinical populations that the type of antipsychotic treatment administered (typical versus atypical) may result in either an increase or a decrease of already heightened smoking behavior within the schizophrenic population. With these clinical issues in mind, the present study sought to examine the effects of antipsychotic treatment upon the associative reward of nicotine within the neonatal quinpirole model of schizophrenia. We found that treatment with the typical antipsychotic haloperidol blocked the associative reward of nicotine. Clozapine, an atypical antipsychotic, merely reduced the rewarding effects. These findings illustrate the centrality of the dopamine system, specifically the D2 receptor subtype, as an underlying mechanism of the rewarding effects of nicotine among rodents neonatally treated with quinpirole.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:ETSU/oai:dc.etsu.edu:honors-1358 |
| Date | 01 May 2016 |
| Creators | Denton, Adam Ray |
| Publisher | Digital Commons @ East Tennessee State University |
| Source Sets | East Tennessee State University |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Source | Undergraduate Honors Theses |
| Rights | Copyright by the authors., http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/ |
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