Effects of Nicotine Exposure and Delay-Exposure Training on Suboptimal Choice in Rats

FONDECYT 3240295. The literature suggests that nicotine accelerates the 'internal clock,' increasing preference for immediate rewards and altering sensitivity to discriminative cues associated with delayed consequences. This experiment evaluated whether a behavioral training procedure based on exposure to delays could buffer the impact of vaporized nicotine on decision-making. In this study, 24 rats (both females and males) learned to operate a lever at different intervals to obtain rewards, simulating situations in which it is necessary to choose between a sooner reward or a larger but delayed one over a period of six weeks. Subsequently, half of the groups were passively exposed to 0 mg/L (CN) or 3 mg/L (EX) of nicotine for 15 minutes, followed by training in a chained-choice task with optimal and suboptimal alternatives for two weeks