Ethanol and cocaine: Environmental place conditioning, stereotypy, and synergism in planarians

More than 90% of individuals who use cocaine also report concurrent ethanol use, but only a few studies, all conducted with vertebrates, have investigated pharmacodynamic interactions between ethanol and cocaine. Planaria, a type of flatworm often considered to have the simplest 'brain,' is an invertebrate species especially amenable to the quantification of drug-induced behavioral responses and identification of conserved responses. Here, we investigated stereotypical and environmental place conditioning (EPC) effects of ethanol administered alone and in combination with cocaine. Planarians displayed concentration-related increases in C-shaped movements following exposure to ethanol (0.01–1%) (maximal effect: 9.9 ± 1.1 C-shapes/5 min at 0.5%) or cocaine (0.1–5 mM) (maximal effect: 42.8 ± 4.1 C-shapes/5 min at 5 mM). For combined administration, cocaine (0.1–5 mM) was tested with submaximal ethanol concentrations (0.01, 0.1%); the observed effect for the combination was enhanced compared to its predicted effect, indicating synergism for the interaction. The synergy with ethanol was specific for cocaine, as related experiments revealed that combinations of ethanol and nicotine did not result in synergy. For EPC experiments, ethanol (0.0001–1%) concentration-dependently increased EPC, with significant environmental shifts detected at 0.01 and 1%. Cocaine (0.001–1 μM) produced an inverted U-shaped concentration–effect curve, with a significant environmental shift observed at 0.01 μM. For combined exposure, variable cocaine concentrations (0.001–1 μM) were administered with a statistically ineffective concentration of ethanol (0.0001%). For each concentration of cocaine, the environmental shift was enhanced by ethanol, with significance detected at 1 μM. Cocaethylene, a metabolite of cocaine and ethanol, also produced C-shapes and EPC. Lidocaine (0.001–10 μM), an anesthetic and analog of cocaine, did not produce EPC or C-shaped movements. Evidence from planarians that ethanol produces place-conditioning effects and motor dysfunction, and interacts synergistically with cocaine, suggests that aspects of ethanol neuropharmacology are conserved across species.