Efficacy of Providing Nicotine in a Liquid Diet to Rats

Abstract

To determine if rats would consume nicotine at psychoactive levels, a nutritionally balanced diet with 0, 20, 60, or 200 mg of nicotine tartrate per kg of diet was provided. Diet consumption and body weight differences were recorded for 14 days after which, following 16 hr of withdrawal, animals were given access to a two-bottle choice of the previously presented diet and a nicotine-free diet. Spontaneous horizontal motor activity was recorded 8, 16, and 24 hr after withdrawal. By Day 14, all animals showed a significant increase in diet consumption and significant weight gain compared to Day 1. Animals consumed an average of 2.1, 6.8, or 19.5 mg/kg/day of nicotine on the low, medium, and high-nicotine diets, respectively. However, animals receiving the high-nicotine diet consumed less diet and gained less weight than the control, low, and medium nicotine groups. During only the first 4 hr of the two-bottle choice (16–20 hr postwithdrawal), the high-nicotine group consumed significantly higher amounts of nicotine base than the other groups, but also consumed more of the control diet during the first 2 hr. In a replicate experiment, animals receiving the medium-nicotine diet showed an increased consumption of the nicotine diet and increased preference for nicotine following a 14-day exposure compared to the controlfed animals and compared to a baseline preference test. Also, this group showed differences in locomotor activity consistent with other studies using an injection regimen or subcutaneuos pumps to induce dependence. Finally, animals in all three groups exhibited high plasma nicotine and cotinine (a major nicotine metabolite) levels. Because animals in all groups tolerated the diet well, gained weight, selected the nicotine diet in a choice test, and showed withdrawal symptoms, we conclude that the liquid diet proved to be a satisfactory method of inducing nicotine dependence in rats.