Conditioned Place Preference: A Simple Method for Investigating Reinforcing Properties in Laboratory Animals

A large number of studies (more than 800) have been conducted with the conditioned place preference (CPP) method. The relative popularity of CPP is due to its wide variety of applications. It indeed allows assessment of the rewarding property of drugs or other natural reinforcers and to identify the neuronal basis of reinforcement expression. Destruction of drug-induced CPP, obtained either by local or systemic drug administration, or also by lesioning discrete brain areas, can prove the involvement of specific neuronal circuits in the expression of CPP (see refs. 1 –3 for recent reviews). The aim of this chapter is to provide methodological details together with a theoretical background that justifies the choice of a particular application.