(?)-nicotine produces conditioned place preference in Lewis, but not Fischer 344 rats

In this study, we sought to determine if Fischer 344 (F344) and Lewis rats showed different conditioned place preference (CPP) responses to subcutaneously administered (-)-nicotine. Lewis rats displayed a CPP response to (-)-nicotine after five pairings, whereas F344 rats showed no preference for nicotine compared to vehicle. After 10 pairings, the F344 rats showed a conditioned place aversion to (-)-nicotine, whereas the Lewis rats still displayed a significant CPP response. These results suggest that the differences in appetitiveness shown between Lewis and F344 rats to other drugs of abuse extend also to (-)-nicotine.