Concurrent heroin self-administration and intracranial self-stimulation in rats

In a two-lever testing chamber, rats lever pressed for lateral hypothalamic brain stimulation or intravenous heroin reinforces on a concurrent FR1 FR1 schedule of reinforcement. Responding for stimulation did not alter the rate of heroin self-administration, and responding for heroin caused increased responding for stimulation. Discontinuing heroin injections, or administering 3 mg/kg of naloxone, disrupted responding for both reinforcers, while changing the unit dose of heroin did not appreciably affect response rates for stimulation. This experiment demonstrates that rats are able to lever press during the period between successive self-administered heroin infusions, suggesting that the pausing normally seen between infusions is not due to debilitation, stereotyping, or sedation.