title: Anti-craving effects of environmental enrichment.
abstract: We hypothesized that environmental enrichment in rats may reduce cocaine-seeking behaviour elicited by cocaine-priming injections and by cocaine-associated cues. Rats trained to self-administer cocaine while housed in isolated conditions were then assigned to live in isolation or an enriched environment for 21 d of forced abstinence. Subsequently, extinction and reinstatement of cocaine-seeking behaviour (operant responses without cocaine available) were assessed. Expt 1 showed that enrichment resulted in less cocaine-seeking behaviour during extinction and cue-elicited reinstatement compared to continued isolation housing, but had no effect on cocaine-primed reinstatement. A subsequent experiment, which included a pair-housed group to control for potential isolation stress, again demonstrated that enrichment attenuated cocaine seeking during extinction, but not cocaine-primed reinstatement, relative to both isolation and pair-housed conditions. The findings suggest that enrichment reduces the impact of cocaine-associated environmental stimuli, and hence it may be a useful intervention for attenuating cue-elicited craving in humans.
authors.affiliation: Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ, USA.
authors.forename: Kenneth J
authors.initials: KJ
authors.lastname: Thiel
authors.forename: Federico
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Sanabria
authors.forename: Nathan S
authors.initials: NS
authors.lastname: Pentkowski
authors.forename: Janet L
authors.initials: JL
authors.lastname: Neisewander
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D016739:Behavior, Addictive; D001522:Behavior, Animal; D000697:Central Nervous System Stimulants / Q000008:administration & dosage*; D003042:Cocaine / Q000008:administration & dosage*; D019970:Cocaine-Related Disorders / Q000523:psychology / Q000628:therapy*; D003213:Conditioning, Psychological; D003463:Cues; D004777:Environment; D005108:Extinction, Psychological; D006799:Housing, Animal; D008297:Male; D023421:Models, Animal; D009042:Motivation; D051381:Rats; D017207:Rats, Sprague-Dawley; D012054:Reinforcement, Psychology; D055502:Secondary Prevention; D012646:Self Administration; D012919:Social Behavior; D012934:Social Isolation; D013375:Substance Withdrawal Syndrome / Q000523:psychology / Q000628:therapy*; D013997:Time Factors
chemical_list: D000697:Central Nervous System Stimulants; D003042:Cocaine
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