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Cannabinoid Conditioned Reward And Aversion: Behavioral And Neural Processes, Jennifer E. Murray, Rick A. Bevins

Department of Psychology: Faculty Publications

The discovery that delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol

(Δ⁹-THC) is the primary psychoactive ingredient in

marijuana prompted research that helped elucidate

the endogenous cannabinoid system of the brain.

Δ⁹-THC and other cannabinoid ligands with agonist

action (CP 55,940, HU210, and WIN 55,212-2)

increase firing of dopamine neurons and increase

synaptic dopamine in brain regions associated with

reward and drug addiction. Such changes in cellular

processes have prompted investigators to examine

the conditioned rewarding effects of the cannabinoid

ligands using the place conditioning task with rats and

mice. As reviewed here, these cannabinoid ligands

can condition place preferences (evidence for rewarding …