CONDITIONED PLACE PREFERENCE TEST IN THE MICE

^{PRECLINICAL RESEARCH}

CONDITIONED PLACE PREFERENCE TEST

^{IN THE MICE}


	Introduction


	Compound testing

Conditioned place preference (CPP) has been accepted to have high predictive validity for screening compounds with an abuse potential in humans. This test is based on the association of the positive rewarding state produced by drugs (e.g., cocaine or morphine) with environmental cues (e.g., colour of the test chamber) present during the drug state. When given a choice, rats or mice prefer spending more time in the environment paired with a reinforcing drug than in the vehicle-paired chamber.
The apparatus consists of 2 large chambers of white and black colors, respectively, connected by a small corridor. The test is conducted over a 5 days period and comprises: i) an habituation phase (day 0) where mice are allowed to freely explore the whole apparatus, ii) a daily conditioning phase (day 1 to 3) during which mice receive drug treatment and vehicle treatment in the drug and the vehicle -paired chamber, respectively, iii) a testing phase (day 4) where mice are given a choice between the two chambers.

Compound testing addresses the effect of treatment of mice on:

time spent in the test compound-paired chamber as an indicator of drug-mediated place preference.


	Morphine induces a significant increase in the time spent in the drug-paired compartment. The base line represents an equal time spent in both chamber