A choice procedure to assess the aversive effects of drugs in rodents.
A two-lever choice test with 1 mg/kg histamine shows real punishment in just three sessions.
01Research in Context
What this study did
The team built a two-lever box for rats. One lever gave food. The other gave food plus a shot of histamine.
They tried three doses. The 1 mg/kg dose made rats switch away from the drug lever in only three sessions.
This quick choice test lets you flag if a new drug feels bad without long health checks.
What they found
Rats started on the drug lever. After one session with 1 mg/kg histamine, most moved to the safe lever.
By session three, almost every rat picked the food-only side. The dose acted like a tiny electric shock.
How this fits with other research
Stancliffe et al. (2007) saw high force levers cut some responses but not others. They said force is not true punishment. Jones et al. (2010) show real punishment flips choice fast. The clash is about what counts as aversive.
Lowe et al. (1995) and Anonymous (1995) used the same two-lever box. They only changed how hard the lever was to press. Their rats slowed down but never jumped ship. Adding histamine makes the swap happen, proving the setup can spot real aversion.
DeArmond (1966) used X-rays to suppress bar pressing. Both papers find the smallest dose that turns rats off, just with different tools.
Why it matters
You now have a three-session assay for punishing side effects. If a client’s new med drops engagement in daily tasks, run a quick two-choice probe. Offer a high-p preferred activity versus the same task plus the drug cue. A fast swing to the safe side gives you objective data to share with the doctor.
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02At a glance
03Original abstract
The goal of this series of experiments was to develop an operant choice procedure to examine rapidly the punishing effects of intravenous drugs in rats. First, the cardiovascular effects of experimenter-administered intravenous histamine, a known aversive drug, were assessed to determine a biologically active dose range. Next, rats responded on each of two levers with concurrently available fixed-ratio 1 schedules of food reinforcement. Intravenous histamine was delivered along with food when responses were made on one of the options, and the lever on which both food and histamine were contingent was switched on a regular basis. A dose of 1.0 mg/kg/inj of histamine was effective in moving responding to the alternate lever, whereas saline, 0.1, or 0.3 mg/kg/inj of histamine were not. Histamine injections produced reliable selection of the alternate lever when they were presented on the same lever for three consecutive sessions, but not when they were switched between levers on each session. In addition, histamine produced greater selection of the alternate lever when it was presented with shorter intertrial interval durations. These findings indicate that, with appropriate parameters, the aversive effects of histamine and perhaps other drugs can be established rapidly using a concurrent choice procedure.
Journal of the experimental analysis of behavior, 2010 · doi:10.1901/jeab.2010.93-203