D-serine treatment reduces cocaine-primed reinstatement in rats following extended access to cocaine self-administration.
The most intractable feature of drug addiction is the high rate of relapse, even following extended periods of abstinence from drug-taking. Evidence suggests that allowing rats extended access to cocaine self-administration leads to behavioral characteristics in these animals that are consistent with the development of addiction in humans. In the current study, rats were allowed to self-administer cocaine over a total of 22 daily sessions, the final seven of which were long-access (LgA) sessions of 6 h duration. Assessments of reinstatement of drug-seeking behavior were made following reintroduction to the drug-taking environment and noncontingent priming with either conditioned stimulus (CS) or cocaine in both extinguished and abstinent subject groups. Three separate groups of rats were treated with either saline or D-serine (100 mg/kg i.p.) administered 2 h prior to, or immediately following, each extinction training session. Saline-treated LgA rats were resistant to the effects of extinction training to reduce noncontingent priming of reinstatement of drug-seeking behavior with either CS or cocaine. In contrast, treatment with D-serine either before or immediately following the sessions resulted in a significant enhancement in the ability of extinction training to reduce cocaine-primed reinstatement of drug-seeking behavior. These results suggest that D-serine can act to enhance the consolidation of extinction learning in LgA rats, and is therefore a promising adjunctive agent along with behavioral therapy for the treatment of cocaine addiction.
Kelamangalath
L
L
Department of Physiology and Pharmacology, University of Georgia, Athens, GA, USA.
Wagner
J J
JJ
D000818:Animals; D000697:Central Nervous System Stimulants / Q000008:administration & dosage*; D003042:Cocaine / Q000008:administration & dosage*; D019970:Cocaine-Related Disorders / Q000517:prevention & control* / Q000523:psychology; D058999:Drug-Seeking Behavior / Q000187:drug effects; D005108:Extinction, Psychological; D008297:Male; D051381:Rats; D017207:Rats, Sprague-Dawley; D012008:Recurrence; D012646:Self Administration; D012694:Serine / Q000737:chemistry / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D013237:Stereoisomerism; D013997:Time Factors
D000697:Central Nervous System Stimulants; D012694:Serine; D003042:Cocaine