Relationship between Increasing Nicotine Cost and Decreasing Nicotine Dose

描述(申请人提供)：美国食品和药物管理局(FDA)最近被授权将尼古丁的含量调节到“不会上瘾”的水平，但还需要更多的研究来评估尼古丁减少政策对公众健康的影响。行为经济学是一种有助于回答许多与尼古丁减少有关的研究问题的方法。由于尼古丁是香烟中的主要强化成分，尼古丁含量的减少可能被视为单位价格(单位)的增加 价格=增强剂成本/增强剂大小)，行为经济学已经表明，增强剂的消耗量是单位价格的函数。将尼古丁减少视为单位价格的增加，允许应用分析技术以及从行为经济学领域到尼古丁减少科学的大量现有文献。然而，消费是增强剂数量和成本的联合函数的假设尚未对尼古丁进行评估，这使得目前的行为经济学文献和行为经济学方法的应用受到质疑。这项拟议的项目旨在1)证明比例的增加和剂量的减少在尼古丁消费中产生相同的变化，2)确定这两种操作对同时获得的增强剂的消费的影响是相似的。数据将使用自我给药范例收集，在这种范例中，大鼠被植入导管，并允许做出反应以获得静脉输注尼古丁。使用输液所需的反应次数来操纵成本。1)消费将通过使用两种不同尼古丁剂量的操纵成本和使用两种不同成本的操纵剂量来衡量六个单价。按照似乎产生最大变异性的单位价格，将在10个成本/剂量组合中衡量消耗量。然后，结果将被扩展到一个范例，在这个范例中，大鼠有机会在延长的22小时的实验中对尼古丁做出反应。2)单价将同时受到成本上升和剂量减少的操纵，因变量为第二种可同时获得的增强剂的消耗量。将测试两种替代增强剂：口服尼古丁和糖精溶液。这个项目将是第一个确定减少尼古丁剂量是否可能 其作用类似于增加尼古丁成本。如果这两种操作是等价的，行为经济学方法可能适用于尼古丁减少，这可能有助于解决许多与尼古丁减少有关的重要问题。总的来说，这些学生可以提供关于减少吸烟和总体烟草使用的策略的见解。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) was recently given the authority to regulate the content of nicotine to a "nonaddictive" level, but mor research is needed to evaluate the impact of a nicotine reduction policy on public health. Behavioral economics is an approach that would be beneficial for answering many research questions related to nicotine reduction. Because nicotine is the primary reinforcing component within cigarettes, a reduction in nicotine content may be viewed as an increase in unit price (Unit price=reinforcer cost/reinforcer magnitude), and behavioral economics has shown that consumption of a reinforcer is a function of unit price. Viewing nicotine reduction as an increase in unit price allows for the application of analytic techniques as well as a wealth of existing literature from the field of behavioral economics to the science of nicotine reduction. However, the assumption that consumption is a joint function of reinforcer magnitude and cost has yet to be evaluated for nicotine, making the application of current behavioral economics literature and a behavioral economics approach questionable. The proposed project aims to 1) show that ratio escalation and dose reduction produce equivalent changes in nicotine consumption 2) establish that the two manipulations change consumption of concurrently available reinforcers similarly. Data will be collected using a self- administration paradigm in which rats are implanted with catheters and allowed to make a response to obtain an intravenous infusion of nicotine. Cost is manipulated using the number of responses required for an infusion. 1) Consumption will be measured across six unit prices by manipulating cost using two different nicotine doses and by manipulating dose using two different costs. At the unit price that appears to create the most variability, consumption will be measured across 10 cost/dose combinations. The results will then be extended to a paradigm in which rats have the opportunity to respond for nicotine during an extended 22-hour session. 2) Unit price will be manipulated by both escalating cost and decreasing dose with the dependent variable being consumption of a second, concurrently available reinforcer. Two alternative reinforcers will be tested: oral nicotine and saccharin solution. This project will be the first to determine whether decreasing nicotine dose is likely to function similarly as increasing nicotine cost. If the two manipulations are equivalent, a behavioral economics approach to nicotine reduction may be applicable, which could help address many important questions related to nicotine reduction. Collectively, these students may provide insight regarding strategies for reducing smoking and overall tobacco use.