FIGURE 3.

Paternal nicotine reduces nicotine self-administration. A, NIC- and SAL-Sired male mice (n = 9–10 per group) did not differ in the total number of infusions earned for each session during the acquisition period on the 0.03 mg/kg/infusion dose. B, During acquisition, the number of active and inactive lever presses significantly differed on the first session, with NIC-Sired mice nicotine exhibiting a greater number of active lever presses compared with SAL-Sired mice. However, across subsequent sessions, NIC-Sired mice decreased responding, resulting in no significant differences between their active and inactive number of lever presses across sessions 3 to 8. In contrast, SAL-Sired animals exhibited a consistent statistically significant preference for the active lever over their inactive lever. C, Mean number of nicotine infusions across the three last acquisition sessions did not significantly differ between NIC- and SAL-Sired mice. D, At a moderate dose of 0.1 mg/kg/infusion, NIC-Sired mice self-administered a significantly lower number of nicotine infusion. E, Incubation of craving assessment revealed a significant increase in responding on the previously active lever after 21 days of abstinence only for SAL-Sired mice. Error bars indicate standard error of the mean (SEM), *P < .05