Rats can make good choices: Effect of alternative food and social rewards on drug use and relapse in rat models of addiction
In previous studies, we and others used a rat model of drug relapse and craving to demonstrate time-dependent increases in drug seeking following experimenter-imposed (forced) abstinence in the homecage, a phenomenon we termed incubation of drug craving (Grimm et al., Nature, 2001). More recently, we developed a rat model to study drug craving and relapse following extended periods of voluntary abstinence in the drug-associated environment. Voluntary abstinence is achieved through a mutually exclusive discrete-choice procedure, in which male and female rats with a history of intravenous opioid or psychostimulant self-administration choose daily between palatable food or social interaction with a peer versus the addictive drug. We propose that these voluntary abstinence models reflect key elements of operant-based human treatments, such as contingency management (where alternative rewards are monetary vouchers) and the community reinforcement approach (where positive social interactions serve as reinforcement). In this lecture, I will introduce the voluntary abstinence models and present behavioral and neural circuit analyses of drug craving and relapse after the removal of the food or social rewards.

Dr. Yavin Shaham is a Branch Chief and Senior Investigator at NIH/NIDA.
 

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