Skip to main content

Pavlovian Spontaneous Recovery as a Measure of Alcohol-Seeking Behavior

  • Protocol
  • First Online:
Translational Research Methods for Alcohol Use Disorders

Part of the book series: Neuromethods ((NM,volume 201))

  • 131 Accesses

Abstract

Alcohol (EtOH) addiction can be characterized as a chronic relapsing disorder. EtOH craving is a critical precipitating factor to relapse. Environmental and conditioning cues can elicit drug-seeking ‘craving’ in both humans and rodents. The operant Pavlovian Spontaneous Recovery (PSR) model of EtOH-seeking is a unique and suitable model for studying ‘craving-like’ behavior as well as examining underlying neural systems and mechanisms that may be involved in ‘craving-like’ and, by extension, relapse behavior in rodents. Our objective is to provide the reader with details and methods on the benefits of using the PSR model to examine and better understand EtOH ‘craving-like’ behavior.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Protocol
USD 49.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 169.00
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Hardcover Book
USD 219.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

References

  1. Ferri M, Amato L, Davoli M (2006) Alcoholics anonymous and other 12-step programmes for alcohol dependence. Cochrane Database Syst Rev 3:CD005032

    Google Scholar 

  2. Gawin FH, Kleber HD (1986) Abstinence symptomatology and psychiatric diagnosis in cocaine abusers. Clinical observations. Arch Gen Psychiatry 43:107–113

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  3. O’Brien CP, Childress AR, Ehrman R, Robbins SJ (1998) Conditioning factors in drug abuse: can they explain compulsion? J Psychopharmacol 12(1):15–22

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  4. Li P, Wu P, Xin X, Fan YL, Wang GB, Wang F, Ma MY, Xue MM, Luo YX, Yang FD, Bao YP, Shi J, Sun HQ, Lu L (2015) Incubation of alcohol craving during abstinence in patients with alcohol dependence. Addict Biol 20:513–522

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  5. Gordon SM, Sterling R, Siatkowski C, Raively K, Weinstein S, Hill PC (2006) Inpatient desire to drink as a predictor of relapse to alcohol use following treatment. Am J Addict 15:242–245

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  6. Pavlov IP (1927) Conditioned reflexes (G.V. Anrep, trans). Oxford University Press, London

    Google Scholar 

  7. Rodd ZA, Bell RL, Sable HJ, Murphy JM, McBride WJ (2004) Recent advances in animal models of alcohol craving and relapse. Pharmacol Biochem Behav 79(3):439–450

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  8. Martin-Fardon R, Weiss F (2013) Modeling relapse in animals. Curr Top Behav Neurosci 13:403–432

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  9. DiCiano P, Everitt BJ (2002) Reinstatement and spontaneous recovery of cocaine-seeking following extinction and different durations of withdrawal. Behav Pharmacol 13:397–405

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  10. Widholm JJ (2010) Extinction learning as a model of drug treatment and relapse: a behavioral overview. Open Addict J 3:57–62

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  11. Franken IH, de Haan HA, van der Meer CW, Haffmans PM, Hendriks VM (1999) Cue reactivity and effects of cue exposure in abstinent posttreatment drug users. J Subst Abus Treat 16(1):81–85

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  12. Cunningham CL, Fidler TL, Hill KG (2000) Animal models of alcohol's motivational effects. Alcohol Res Health 24(2):85–92

    CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  13. Epstein DH, Preston KL, Stewart J, Shaham Y (2006) Toward a model of drug relapse: an assessment of the validity of the reinstatement procedure. Psychopharmacology 189(1):1–16

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  14. Leeman RF, Heilig M, Cunningham CL, Stephens DN, Duka T, O’Malley SS (2010) Ethanol consumption: how should we measure it? Achieving consilience between human and animal phenotypes. Addict Biol 15(2):109–124

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  15. Samson HH (2000) The microstructure of ethanol drinking: genetic and behavioral factors in control of drinking patterns. Addiction 95(Suppl 2):S61–S72

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  16. Samson HH, Czachowski CL (2003) Behavioral measures of alcohol self-administration and intake control: rodent models. Int Rev Neurobiol 54:107–143

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  17. Lê AD, Funk D, Harding S, Juzytsch W, Fletcher PJ, Shaham Y (2006) Effects of dexfenfluramine and 5-HT3 receptor antagonists on stress-induced reinstatement of alcohol seeking in rats. Psychopharmacology 186(1):82–92

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  18. de Wit H, Stewart J (1981) Reinstatement of cocaine-reinforced responding in the rat. Psychopharmacology 75(2):134–143

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  19. de Wit H, Stewart J (1983) Drug reinstatement of heroin-reinforced responding in the rat. Psychopharmacology 79(1):29–31

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  20. Shaham Y, Adamson LK, Grocki S, Corrigall WA (1997) Reinstatement and spontaneous recovery of nicotine seeking in rats. Psychopharmacology 130(4):396–403

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  21. Lê AD, Quan B, Juzytch W, Fletcher PJ, Joharchi N, Shaham Y (1998) Reinstatement of alcohol-seeking by priming injections of alcohol and exposure to stress in rats. Psychopharmacology 135(2):169–174

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  22. Richards JK, Simms JA, Steensland P, Taha SA, Borgland SL, Bonci A, Bartlett SE (2008) Inhibition of orexin-1/hypocretin-1 receptors inhibits yohimbine-induced reinstatement of ethanol and sucrose seeking in Long-Evans rats. Psychopharmacology 199(1):109–117

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  23. Kleber H, Gawin F (1986) Psychopharmacological trials in cocaine abuse treatment. Am J Drug Alcohol Abuse 12(3):235–246

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  24. Pickens CL, Airavaara M, Theberge F, Fanous S, Hope BT, Shaham Y (2011) Neurobiology of the incubation of drug craving. Trends Neurosci 34(8):411–420

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  25. Bouton ME, Bolles RC (1979) Role of conditioned contextual stimuli in reinstatement of extinguished fear. J Exp Psychol Anim Behav Process 5(4):368–378

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  26. Hamlin AS, Newby J, McNally GP (2007) The neural correlates and role of D1 dopamine receptors in renewal of extinguished alcohol-seeking. Neuroscience 146(2):525–536

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  27. Hamlin AS, Clemens KJ, McNally GP (2008) Renewal of extinguished cocaine-seeking. Neuroscience 151(3):659–670

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  28. Chaudhri N, Sahuque LL, Janak PH (2009) Ethanol seeking triggered by environmental context is attenuated by blocking dopamine D1 receptors in the nucleus accumbens core and shell in rats. Psychopharmacology 207:303–314

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  29. Chaudhri N, Sahuque LL, Schairer WW, Janak PH (2010) Separable roles of the nucleus accumbens core and shell in context- and cue-induced alcohol-seeking. Neuropsychopharmacology 35:783–791

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  30. Katner SN, Magalong JG, Weiss F (1999) Reinstatement of alcohol-seeking behavior by drug-associated discriminative stimuli after prolonged extinction in the rat. Neuropsychopharmacology 20(5):471–479

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  31. Katner SN, Weiss F (1999) Ethanol-associated olfactory stimuli reinstate ethanol-seeking behavior after extinction and modify extracellular dopamine levels in the nucleus accumbens. Alcohol Clin Exp Res 23(11):1751–1760

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  32. Macintosh JJ (1977) Stimulus control: attentional factors. In: Honig WK, Staddon JER (eds) Handbook on Operant Behavior. Prentice-Hall, Englewood Cliffs, pp 162–241

    Google Scholar 

  33. Robbins SJ (1990) Mechanisms underlying spontaneous recovery in authoshaping. J Exp Psychol Anim Behav Processes 16:235–249

    Article  Google Scholar 

  34. Rodd-Henricks ZA, Bell RL, Kuc KA, Murphy JM, McBride WJ, Lumeng L, Li TK (2002) Effects of ethanol exposure on subsequent acquisition and extinction of ethanol self-administration and expression of alcohol-seeking behavior in adult alcohol-preferring (P) rats: I. Periadolescent exposure. Alcohol Clin Exp Res 26(11):1632–1641

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  35. Rodd-Henricks ZA, Bell RL, Kuc KA, Murphy JM, McBride WJ, Lumeng L, Li TK (2002) Effects of ethanol exposure on subsequent acquisition and extinction of ethanol self-administration and expression of alcohol-seeking behavior in adult alcohol- preferring (P) rats: II. Adult exposure. Alcohol Clin Exp Res 26(11):1642–1652

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  36. Getachew B, Hauser SR, Dhaher R, Katner SN, Bell RL, Oster SM, McBride WJ, Rodd ZA (2011) CB1 receptors regulate alcohol-seeking behavior and alcohol self-administration of alcohol-preferring (P) rats. Pharmacol Biochem Behav 97(4):669–675

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  37. Dhaher R, Hauser SR, Getachew B, Bell RL, McBride WJ, McKinzie DL, Rodd ZA (2010) The Orexin-1 receptor antagonist SB-334867 reduces alcohol relapse drinking, but not alcohol-seeking, in alcohol-preferring (P) rats. J Addict Med 4(3):153–159

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  38. Dhaher R, Toalston JE, Hauser SR, Bell RL, McKinzie DL, McBride WJ, Rodd ZA (2012) Effects of naltrexone and LY255582 on ethanol maintenance, seeking, and relapse responding by alcohol-preferring (P) rats. Alcohol 46(1):17–27

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  39. Knight CP, Hauser SR, Deehan GA Jr, Toalston JE, McBride WJ, Rodd ZA (2016) Oral conditioned cues can enhance or inhibit ethanol (EtOH)-seeking and EtOH-relapse drinking by alcohol-preferring (P) rats. Alcohol Clin Exp Res 40(4):906–915

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  40. Hauser SR, Ding ZM, Getachew B, Toalston JE, Oster SM, McBride WJ, Rodd ZA (2011) The posterior ventral tegmental area mediates alcohol-seeking behavior in alcohol-preferring rats. J Pharmacol Exp Ther 336(3):857–865

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  41. Hauser SR, Deehan GA Jr, Toalston JE, Bell RL, McBride WJ, Rodd ZA (2014) Enhance alcohol-seeking behavior by nicotine in the posterior ventral tegmental area of female alcohol-preferring (P) rats: modulation by serotonin-3 and nicotinic cholinergic receptors. Psychopharmacology 231(18):3745–3755

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  42. Hauser SR, Deehan GA Jr, Dhaher R, Knight CP, Wilden JA, McBride WJ, Rodd ZA (2015) D1 receptors in the nucleus accumbens-shell, but not the core, are involved in mediating ethanol-seeking behavior of alcohol-preferring (P) rats. Neuroscience 295:243–251

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  43. Hauser SR, Deehan GA Jr, Knight CP, Waeiss RA, Truitt WA, Johnson PL, Bell RL, McBride WJ, Rodd ZA (2019) Conditioned stimuli affect ethanol-seeking by female alcohol-preferring (P) rats: the role of repeated-deprivations, cue-pretreatment, and cue-temporal intervals. Psychopharmacology 236(9):2835–2846

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  44. LeCocq MR, Lahlou S, Chahine M, Padillo LN, Chaudhri N (2018) Modeling relapse to Pavlovian alcohol-seeking in rats using reinstatement and spontaneous recovery paradigms. Alcohol Clin Exp Res 42(9):1795–1806

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  45. Anton RF (1999) What is craving? Models and implications for treatment. Alcohol Res Health 23(3):165–173

    CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  46. Rodd ZA, Anstrom KK, Knapp DJ, Racz I, Zimmer A, Serra S, Bell RL, Woodward DJ, Breese GR, Colombo G (2005) Factors mediating alcohol craving and relapse: stress, compulsivity, and genetics. Alcohol Clin Exp Res 29(7):1325–1333

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  47. Hauser SR, Deehan GA Jr, Knight CP, Toalston JE, McBride WJ, Rodd ZA (2016) Parameters of context-induced ethanol (EtOH)-seeking in alcohol-preferring (P) rats: temporal analysis, effects of repeated deprivation, and EtOH priming injections. Alcohol Clin Exp Res 40(10):2229–2239

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  48. Rodd ZA, McKinzie DL, Bell RL, McQueen VK, Murphy JM, Schoepp DD, McBride WJ (2006) The metabotropic glutamate 2/3 receptor agonist LY404039 reduces alcohol-seeking but not alcohol self-administration in alcohol-preferring (P) rats. Behav Brain Res 171(2):207–215

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  49. Deehan GA Jr, McKinzie DL, Carroll FI, McBride WJ, Rodd ZA (2012) The long-lasting effects of JDTic, a kappa opioid receptor antagonist, on the expression of ethanol-seeking behavior and the relapse drinking of female alcohol-preferring (P) rats. Pharmacol Biochem Behav 101(4):581–587

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  50. Hauser SR, Waeiss RA, Molosh AI, Deehan GA Jr, Bell RL, McBride WJ, Rodd ZA (2020) Atrial natriuretic peptide (ANP): a novel mechanism for reducing ethanol consumption and seeking behaviors in female alcohol preferring (P) rats. Peptides 134:170403

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  51. Bell RL, Hauser S, Rodd ZA, Liang T, Sari Y, McClintick J, Rahman S, Engleman EA (2016) A genetic animal model of alcoholism for screening medications to treat addiction. Int Rev Neurobiol 126:179–261

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  52. Domi E, Domi A, Adermark L, Heilig M, Augier E (2021) Neurobiology of alcohol seeking behavior. J Neurochem 157(5):1585–1614

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  53. Funk D, Mak D, Coen K, Lê AD (2022) Role of alpha-2 adrenergic and kappa opioid receptors in the effects of alcohol gavage-induced dependence on alcohol seeking. Behav Brain Res 434:114032

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  54. Nelson BS, Fulenwider HD, Nennig SE, Smith BM, Sequeira MK, Chimberoff SH, Richie CT, Cheng K, Rice KC, Harvey BK, Heilig M, Schank JR (2019) Escalated alcohol self-administration and sensitivity to yohimbine-induced reinstatement in alcohol preferring rats: potential role of neurokinin-1 receptors in the amygdala. Neuroscience 413:77–85

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  55. Samson H, Files F, Brice G (1996) Patterns of ethanol consumption in a continuous access situation: the effect of adding a sweetener to the ethanol solution. Alcohol Clin Exp Res 20(1):101–109

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  56. Sanchis-Segura C, Spanagel R (2006) Behavioural assessment of drug reinforcement and addictive features in rodents: an overview. Addict Biol 11(1):2–38

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  57. Augier E, Flanigan M, Dulman RS, Pincus A, Schank JR, Rice KC, Kejun C, Heilig M, Tapocik JD (2014) Wistar rats acquire and maintain self-administration of 20% ethanol without water deprivation, saccharin/sucrose fading, or extended access training. Psychopharmacology 231(23):4561–4568

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  58. Hauser SR, Getachew B, Oster SM, Dhaher R, Ding ZM, Bell RL, McBride WJ, Rodd ZA (2012) Nicotine modulates alcohol-seeking and relapse by alcohol-preferring (P) rats in a time-dependent manner. Alcohol Clin Exp Res 36(1):43–54

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  59. Paxinos G, Watson C (2005) The rat brain in stereotaxic coordinates, 5th edn. Academic Press, New York

    Google Scholar 

  60. Rosenthal MZ, Kutlu MG (2014) Translation of associative learning models into extinction reminders delivered via mobile phones during cue exposure interventions for substance use. Psychol Addict Behav 28(3):863–871

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  61. Willcocks AL, McNally GP (2014) An extinction retrieval cue attenuates renewal but not reacquisition of alcohol seeking. Behav Neurosci 128:83–91

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  62. McNally GP (2014) Extinction of drug seeking: neural circuits and approaches to augmentation. Neuropharmacology 76(Pt B):528–532

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  63. Rich MT, Abbott TB, Chung L, Gulcicek EE, Stone KL, Colangelo CM, Lam TT, Nairn AC, Taylor JR, Torregrossa MM (2016) Phosphoproteomic analysis reveals a novel mechanism of CaMKIIα regulation inversely induced by cocaine memory extinction versus reconsolidation. J Neurosci 36:7613–7627

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  64. Rich MT, Huang YH, Torregrossa MM (2019) Plasticity at Thalamo-amygdala synapses regulates cocaine-cue memory formation and extinction. Cell Rep 26:1010–1020.e5

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  65. Torregrossa MM, Gordon J, Taylor JR (2013) Double dissociation between the anterior cingulate cortex and nucleus accumbens core in encoding the context versus the content of pavlovian cocaine cue extinction. J Neurosci 33:8370–8377

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  66. Bender BN, Torregrossa MM (2021) Dorsolateral striatum dopamine-dependent cocaine seeking is resistant to Pavlovian cue extinction in male and female rats. Neuropharmacology 182:108403

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  67. Hauser SR, Deehan GA Jr, Knight CP, Waeiss RA, Engleman EA, Ding ZM, Johnson PL, McBride WJ, Truitt WA, Rodd ZA (2023) Inhibitory and excitatory alcohol-seeking cues distinct roles in behavior neurochemistry and mesolimbic pathway in alcohol preferring (P) rats. Drug and Alcohol Dependence 246:109858

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

Preparation of this manuscript and its associated experiments were supported in part by AA020908 (ZAR), AA013522 (RLB), AA022287, AA007611, AA007462, and AA010721. The views expressed in this manuscript do not necessarily represent those of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) or the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA). The products mentioned in this manuscript do not represent an endorsement of the particular manufacturer, but only reflect the products used by our laboratories. All authors claim no perceived or real conflicts of interest.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Sheketha R. Hauser .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2023 The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature

About this protocol

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this protocol

Hauser, S.R., Bell, R.L., Rodd, Z.A. (2023). Pavlovian Spontaneous Recovery as a Measure of Alcohol-Seeking Behavior. In: Cyders, M.A. (eds) Translational Research Methods for Alcohol Use Disorders. Neuromethods, vol 201. Humana, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-0716-3267-3_2

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-0716-3267-3_2

  • Published:

  • Publisher Name: Humana, New York, NY

  • Print ISBN: 978-1-0716-3266-6

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-0716-3267-3

  • eBook Packages: Springer Protocols

Publish with us

Policies and ethics