Effects of kappa opioid agonists on the discriminative stimulus effects of cocaine in rhesus monkeys

This study examined the effects of the kappa opioid agonists U50,488 and ethylketocyclazocine (EKC) on cocaine discrimination in rhesus monkeys trained to discriminate cocaine (0.4 mg/kg) from saline. Administration of U50,488 and EKC alone produced primarily saline-appropriate responding. Kappa agonist pretreatments produced variable effects on cocaine discrimination across monkeys, attenuating the discriminative stimulus effects of cocaine in some monkeys, but either having no effect on cocaine discrimination or enhancing the discriminative stimulus effects of cocaine in other monkeys. The effects of kappa agonists on cocaine discrimination were reversed by pretreatment with the opioid antagonist naloxone (1.0 mg/kg). These results indicate that kappa agonists do not consistently block the discriminative stimulus effects of cocaine in rhesus monkeys.