Effects of acute pramipexole on preference for gambling-like schedules in male Wistar rats
Issue Date
2009-10-05Author
Johnson, Patrick Steven
Publisher
University of Kansas
Format
44 pages
Type
Thesis
Degree Level
M.A.
Discipline
Applied Behavioral Science
Rights
This item is protected by copyright and unless otherwise specified the copyright of this thesis/dissertation is held by the author.
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Show full item recordAbstract
In recent years, pramipexole and other direct-acting dopamine agonist medications have been implicated in the development of impulsive behaviors such as pathological gambling in patients with Parkinson's disease. Despite the significance of these clinical findings, experimental evaluations of pramipexole's effects on gambling are lacking. To this end, the present study used an animal model approximating some aspects of human gambling to examine within-subject effects of acute pramipexole on rats' preferences for gambling-like sources of reinforcement. Pramipexole modestly but significantly increased preferences for gambling-like reinforcement when compared to saline. Pramipexole also increased response latencies, but did not affect probabilities of response perseveration. The findings of the present study are consistent with clinical reports linking pramipexole to gambling. Results are discussed in the context of neurobehavioral evidence suggesting a critical role for dopamine in reward- and punishment-related learning processes.
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