The effect of ascorbic acid on self-administration of heroin in rats

Introduction: Several regions of brain a re rel at ed to o pia te addicti o n, specia lly, Ventr al Tegmental Area (VTA) and Nucleus Accumbe ns with glutaminergic and doparninergic systems have very major roles. There are several evidence that ascorbic acid can be a ne urotransmitter and rel eased fro m e nding of glutam inergic ne ur o ns a nd regula te the release of glut amate and dopamin, The main object of th is study was, if ascorba te be able to prevent addiction to heroin or delayed it? Materials and Methods: Ma le wist a r rat s weigh ted 300 ±30g were a nest he t ized a n d thro ugh str ile surgery implanted with silastic cathe ters inse rted into th e right jugular vein. After 4 days of re covery animals wer e fitted and the exte rnal end of the catheter was connected with a syr inge- drive n pump, then were placed in the self-adm ini stratio n appara tus tha t had two le ve r (active, passive) for 2h every day. Active lever switched on the infusion pump for inject ing 0.1 ml of saline or saline containing 1 mg/ml of herion .(FR = l , Time out = lOs). Ascorbate (300 mglkg, i.p) were used 30 minutes befo re heroin self-administration. Results: In je ction o f asco rbate pr event the development o f dependen ce o n he ro in in rats . There was a significa nt differen ce (P < 0.001) between the numbers of ac tive , but no t pas sive lever among the gro ups. Conclusion: Ascorbate can antagoniz therein forcing effect of he ro in and can use das effective pharmacot herapy for heroin abuse specially when used with high dose.