Effects of dose on acquisition and persistence of a new response for a remifentanil-associated stimulus

Previous research demonstrated that a remifentanil-associated stimulus facilitated the acquisition of a previously unlearned response; however, it is unclear how long a remifentanil-associated stimulus maintains conditioned reinforcing properties under conditions of daily testing. To address this gap, we exposed adult male rats to response-independent stimulus presentations and deliveries of remifentanil (1.0, 3.2, or 10.0 mug/kg/infusion). Rats either received the stimulus presentations and remifentanil deliveries together (Paired Pavlovian conditioning) or according to separate clocks (Random control group). In the sessions following Pavlovian conditioning, we allowed rats to emit nose-poke responses for the presentation of the stimulus alone and measured the extent to which the stimulus facilitated and maintained a previously unlearned response. We tested responding for the stimulus presentations across 28 daily sessions to assess the Pavlovian extinction (degradation of the drug-stimulus association) of the conditioned reinforcing properties of the remifentanil-associated stimulus. We observed the highest and most persistent levels of responding in rats with a Paired Pavlovian conditioning history at 3.2 and 10.0 mug/kg/infusion. In addition, we included analyses of the variability in responding for each group, which revealed individual differences in the susceptibility of the remifentanil-associated stimulus acting as a conditioned reinforcer. These findings demonstrate that a remifentanil-associated stimulus has the ability to sustain drug-seeking behavior and underscores the importance of Pavlovian conditioning in promoting drug abuse.