Attenuation of amphetamine-induced conditioned taste aversion following intraventricular 6-hydroxydopamine.

Intraventricular administration of 6-hydroxydopamine, which depleted central norepinephrine and dopamine contents to 17 and 10% of control levels, respectively, was shown to severely attenuate a conditioned taste aversion induced by repeated exposure to 1.0 mg/kg d-amphetamine. This attenuation was not the result of a general learning deficit because animals with identical treatments acquired a conditioned taste aversion when lithium chloride was used as the punishing stimulus. These and other [5,6] results suggest that the punishing, as well as the rewarding properties of amphetamine are mediated via central catecholaminergic neurons.