Abstract
In this study, we examined the importance of contingent access to a cocaine-related stimulus in the production of cocaine seeking following extinction of lever responding for cocaine. Rats self-administered cocaine for 2 weeks in daily 3-h sessions under a fixed-ratio 1 schedule. A compound stimulus (tone + light) was presented with each infusion. Following seven daily 3-h extinction sessions, rats were reintroduced to the compound stimulus alone. This stimulus was presented in three ways: (1) contingent on lever pressing, (2) noncontingent, and (3) both contingent and noncontingent. Following 3 more extinction days, rats were again reintroduced to the compound stimulus, yet with contingent access to cocaine. Only the two groups with contingent presentation increased lever responding on the 1st day, while all groups increased responding for cocaine on the 2nd day. The need for contingent access to drug-associated stimuli in the absence of drug to produce drug-seeking behavior may be relevant for studies of neural substrates of relapse.
Article PDF
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Arroyo, M., Markou, A., Robbins, T. W., & Everitt, B. J. (1998). Acquisition, maintenance and reinstatement of intravenous cocaine self-administration under a second-order schedule of reinforcement in rats: Effects of conditioned cues and continuous access to cocaine. Psychopharmacology, 140, 331–344.
Bindra, D. (1972). A unified account of classical conditioning and operant training. In H. H. Black & W. F. Prokasy (Eds.), Classical conditioning II: Current research and theory (pp. 453–481). New York: Appleton-Century-Crofts.
Childress, A. R., Mozley, P. D., McElgin, W., Fitzgerald, J., Reivich, M., & O’Brien, C. P. (1999). Limbic activation during cue-induced cocaine craving. American Journal of Psychiatry, 156, 11–18.
Davis, W. M., & Smith, S. G. (1976). Role of conditioned reinforcers in the initiation, maintenance and extinction of drug-seeking behavior. Pavlovian Journal of Biological Science, 11, 222–236.
De Wit, H., & Stewart, J. (1981). Reinstatement of cocaine-reinforced responding in the rat. Psychopharmacology, 75, 134–143.
Ehrman, R. N., Robbins, S. J., Childress, A. R., & O’Brien, C. P. (1992). Conditioned responses to cocaine-related stimuli in cocaine abuse patients. Psychopharmacology, 107, 523–529.
Grant, S., London, E. D., Newlin, D. B., Villemagne, V. L., Liu, X., Contoreggi, C., Phillips, R. L., Kimes, A. S., & Margolin, A. (1996). Activation of memory circuits during cue-elicited cocaine craving. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 93, 12040–12045.
Johnson, B. A., Chen, Y. R., Schmitz, J., Bordnick, P., & Shater, A. (1998). Cue reactivity in cocaine-dependent subjects: Effects of cue type and cue modality. Addictive Behaviors, 23, 7–15.
Katner, S. N., Magalong, J. G., & Weiss, F. (1999). Reinstatement of alcohol-seeking behavior by drug-associated discriminative stimuli after prolonged extinction in the rat. Neuropsychopharmacology, 20, 471–479.
Kruzich, P. J., Grimm, J. W., Rustay, N. R., Parks, C. D., & See, R. E. (1999). Predicting relapse to cocaine-seeking behavior: A multiple regression approach. Behavioural Pharmacology, 10, 513–521.
Liu, X., Vaupel, D. B., Grant, S., & London, E. D. (1998). Effect of cocaine-related environmental stimuli on the spontaneous electroencephalogram in polydrug abusers. Neuropsychopharmacology, 19, 10–17.
McDonald, R. J., & White, N. M. (1993). A triple dissociation of memory systems: Hippocampus, amygdala, and dorsal striatum. Behavioral Neuroscience, 107, 3–22.
Meil, W. M., & See, R. E. (1996). Conditioned cued recovery of responding following prolonged withdrawal from self-administered cocaine in rats: An animal model of relapse. Behavioural Pharmacology, 7, 754–763.
Meil, W. M., & See, R. E. (1997). Lesions of the basolateral amygdala abolish the ability of drug associated cues to reinstate responding during withdrawal from self-administered cocaine. Behavioural Brain Research, 87, 139–148.
See, R. E., Grimm, J. W., Kruzich, P. J., & Rustay, N. (1999). The importance of a compound stimulus in conditioned drug-seeking behavior following one week of extinction from self-administered cocaine in rats. Drug & Alcohol Dependence, 57, 41–49.
Tran-Nguyen, T. L., Fuchs, R. A., Coffey, G. P., Baker, D. A., O’Dell, L. E., & Neisewander, J. L. (1998). Time-dependent changes in cocaine-seeking behavior and extracellular dopamine levels in the amygdala during cocaine withdrawal. Neuropsychopharmacology, 19, 48–59.
Weissenborn, R., Yackey, M., Koob, G. F., & Weiss, F. (1995). Measures of cocaine-seeking behavior using a multiple schedule of food and drug self-administration in rats. Drug & Alcohol Dependence, 38, 237–246.
Whitelaw, R. B., Markou, A., Robbins, T. W., & Everitt, B. J. (1996). Excitotoxic lesions of the basolateral amygdala impair the acquisition of cocaine-seeking behaviour under a second-order schedule of reinforcement. Psychopharmacology, 127, 213–224.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Additional information
This study was supported by NIH Grant DA10462 to R.E.S.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Grimm, J.W., Kruzich, P.J. & See, R.E. Contingent access to stimuli associated with cocaine self-administration is required for reinstatement of drug-seeking behavior. Psychobiology 28, 383–386 (2000). https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03331995
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03331995