title: Renewal of drug seeking by contextual cues after prolonged extinction in rats.
abstract: Contextual stimuli associated with drug exposure can modulate various effects of drugs, but little is known about their role in relapse to drug seeking. Using a renewal procedure, the authors report that drug-associated contextual stimuli play a critical role in relapse to drug-seeking previously maintained by a heroin-cocaine mixture (speedball). Rats were trained to self-administer speedball, after which drug-reinforced behavior was extinguished over 20 days in the self-administration context or in a different context. On the test day, rats exposed to the drug-associated context, after extinction in a different context, reliably renewed drug seeking. The authors suggest that the renewal procedure can be used to study mechanisms underlying relapse to drug seeking elicited by drug-associated contextual stimuli.
authors.affiliation: Behavioral Neuroscience Branch, National Institute on Drug Abuse, Intramural Research Program, Baltimore, Maryland 21224, USA.
authors.forename: Hans S
authors.initials: HS
authors.lastname: Crombag
authors.forename: Yavin
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Shaham
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001245:Association Learning; D019970:Cocaine-Related Disorders / Q000523:psychology*; D003463:Cues; D005108:Extinction, Psychological; D006556:Heroin Dependence / Q000523:psychology*; D008297:Male; D011939:Mental Recall; D009042:Motivation; D051381:Rats; D020318:Rats, Long-Evans; D012646:Self Administration / Q000523:psychology; D012931:Social Environment