Nicotine is an addictive substance with detrimental effects on health. Several measures have been developed to help addicts quit smoking, yet the rate of increase in number of smokers does not seem to have slowed down. The current study was aimed to investigate the effect of Virgin Coconut Oil (VCO) on nicotine dependence and relapse using Conditioned Place Preference (CPP) paradigm in rats. The rats were randomly assigned to one of the following treatment groups: place conditioning without drug treatment before nicotine (0.5 mg kg-1, i.p.); place conditioning with oral VCO at 5 mL kg-1 or the reference drug diclofenac (3.2 mg kg-1, i.p.) 30 min prior to each nicotine treatment. The conditioning training lasted for 5 days, followed by conditioning test on the following day. In different batch of rats, the conditioning test continued with a 7-day nicotine-free period and the rats were then challenged on the following day with 0.5 mg kg-1 nicotine intraperitoneally. VCO and diclofenac were given 30 minutes before nicotine challenge to test their effects. Results showed that VCO and diclofenac significantly decreased (p<0.01) the preference to nicotine-paired compartment to those of preconditioning levels in both preference tests. Taken together, results of the present study indicate that VCO prevents nicotine dependence as well as relapse. The results further lay foundation for the development of potent agents for nicotine dependence. © 2011 Asian Network for Scientific Information.

Dependence,Nicotine,Rats,Relapse,Virgin coconut oil

https://doi.org/10.3923/ijp.2011.664.669