The influence of lobeline on nucleus accumbens dopamine and locomotor responses to nicotine in nicotine‐pretreated rats

1 In vivo brain microdialysis was used to investigate the influence of lobeline on dopamine (DA) and dihydroxyphenylacetic acid (DOPAC) overflow in the core of the nucleus accumbens of freely‐moving rats pretreated with nicotine (0.4 mg kg−1, s.c., once per day for 5 days). Locomotion was also recorded. 2 Lobeline, at doses of 0.7, 4.0 and 10.0 mg kg−1, i.p., failed to elicit any significant changes in extracellular dopamine or dihydroxyphenylacetic acid levels during the 60 min following its administration and did not stimulate locomotor. 3 The dopamine responses to nicotine (0.4 mg kg−1, s.c.), were abolished (P < 0.01) if the nicotine challenge was administered 10 min but not 60 min, after lobeline doses of 4.0 and 10.0 mg kg−1, i.p., but were unaffected following lobeline at the lowest dose tested (0.7 mg kg−1, i.p.) at either time. The increase in locomotor activity was significantly attenuated (P < 0.01), to a similar extent, when the nicotine was injected 10 min, but not 60 min, after all three doses of lobeline (0.7, 4.0 and 10.0 mg kg−1, i.p.) when compared with the saline‐treated rats. 4 The results suggest that lobeline is a short‐acting antagonist of the nicotinic AChRs which mediate the effects of nicotine on mesolimbic dopamine activity and locomotor stimulation. British Journal of Pharmacology (1998) 125, 1115–1119; doi:10.1038/sj.bjp.0702161