Changing environmental cues reduces tolerance to nicotine-induced anorexia

Male rats on a 22-h food deprivation schedule were injected daily with a low dose of nicotine and allowed to drink sweetened milk for 10 min in a test cage in the colony room. Nicotine initially suppressed milk intake but complete tolerance developed within 10 days so that the amount of intake did not differ from saline controls. The role of temporal cues was tested on the next day by changing the timing of cues, and omitting others that normally preceded nicotine injection while keeping constant the physical environment within which injection and testing took place and the drug-test interval. Changing the timing of injection significantly suppressed milk intake. These results show that tolerance to the anorectic effects of a low dose of nicotine is partially dependent on the presence and timing of cues associated with tolerance acquisition.