Attenuation by haloperidol of place preference conditioning using food reinforcement

Abstract

The place preference conditioning paradigm was used to examine the reinforcing properties of food in hungry rats. Availability of food in one of two distinctive environments increased the amount of time they spent in the environment associated with food in a test when the animals were no longer food deprived and neither environment contained food. Pretreatment with haloperidol (0.1 or 0.2 mg/kg) during the conditioning phase blocked the establishment of place preference even though the animals consumed the food in the drugged state. The results are interpreted as demonstrating a role for dopamine-containing neurons in mediating the reinforcing properties of food.