Occasional incidents of drug addiction among celebrities have been reported, and sometimes the presence of the opposite sex flickers. Even trafficking of women sometimes involves the use of illegal drugs. Whether drugs induce not only drug dependence but also an associated preference for the opposite sex is an important question in understanding and solving such cases.
Previously, we have established a female male preference test (FMPT), in which four male mice are compared to distinguish between attractive and unattractive male mice. Using this established system, we examined whether conditioning female mice with an addictive drug would increase their preference for the unattractive male mouse that was with them at the time.
Briefly, the female mice were administered drugs (cocaine 7.5 mg/kg ip or morphine 15 mg/kg sci) and then allowed to meet an unattractive male mouse defined by FMPT for 15 minutes for 3 consecutive days, and were examined by FMPT on the fourth day.
In the results, morphine treated female mice showed significant higher preference to the same male mouse as saline treated control female mice, and the mouse wasn’t the conditioned unattractive male mouse, moreover, cocaine treated female mice didn’t show significantly different preference to specific male mice including the conditioned unattractive male mouse, indicating that those drugs could have no effect to increase the preference to the conditioned unattractive male mouse.
However, since sexual activity might also be necessary for the attraction, the effects of sexual activity under cocaine administration into female mice will also be examined and reported.