Usefulness of conditioned place preference (CPP) paradigm and its practical application

Abstract

The conditioned place preference (CPP) paradigm is used to evaluate motivational properties such as rewarding or aversive effects of drugs. It was first introduced in the early 1980s to compensate for methodological and interpretive difficulties associated with the self-administration technique, the conventional method for assessing rewarding properties of drugs. The CPP paradigm has become the most frequently used method and its use has been reported more frequently than the self-administration paradigm. Although the CPP paradigm has mainly been performed in the rat, we have successfully established the CPP paradigm for the mouse. Thus, the CPP paradigm is now widely accepted as the behavioral approach to pave the way for the neural mechanisms of rewarding effect and for screening drugs for abuse liability. In this review, I focused on the significance, one's way of thinking, methodology, application and controversial points of the CPP paradigm.