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The effects of varied extinction procedures on contingent cue-induced reinstatement in Sprague-Dawley rats

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Abstract

Rationale

Cue exposure therapy, which attempts to limit relapse by reducing reactivity to cocaine-paired cues through repeated exposures, has had limited success.

Objectives

The current experiments examined cocaine cue-induced anxiogenesis and investigated whether a model of cue exposure therapy would reduce reinstatement of cocaine seeking in rats with a history of cocaine self-administration.

Methods

Male rats experienced daily intravenous cocaine self-administration. Rats then experienced exposure to either the self-administration context or the context plus noncontingent presentations of cocaine-paired cues. Immediately following exposure, anxiety-like behavior was measured using elevated plus maze and defensive burying tests. In a second group of rats, self-administration was followed by 7 days of exposure to the context, context + noncontingent cue exposure, lever extinction, or cue + lever extinction. All animals then underwent two contingent cue-induced reinstatement tests separated by 7 days of lever extinction.

Results

Exposure to noncontingent cocaine-paired cues in the self-administration context increased anxiety-like behavior on the defensive burying test. Animals that experienced lever + cue extinction displayed the least cocaine seeking on the first reinstatement test, and lever extinction reduced cocaine seeking below context exposure or context + noncontingent cue exposure. All animals had similar levels of cocaine seeking on the second reinstatement test.

Conclusion

Noncontingent cue exposure causes anxiety, and noncontingent cue and context exposure are less effective at reducing contingent cue-induced reinstatement than lever or lever + cue extinction. These data indicate that active extinction of the drug-taking response may be critical for reduction of relapse proclivity in former cocaine users.

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Acknowledgments

This research was supported by National Institute on Drug Abuse grants DA16511 and DA21690 (RES), 1F32 DA025411-01 (DMB), and NIH grant C06 R015455. The authors thank Shannon Ghee and Bernard Smalls for assistance and data collection.

Conflict of interest

The authors have no financial interests in the current data and report no conflicts of interest. The authors have full control of the data and agree to allow journal review of the data if requested.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Neuroscience, University of Pittsburgh, A210 Langley Hall, Pittsburgh, PA, 15260, USA

    Deanne M. Buffalari

  2. Department of Neurosciences, Medical University of South Carolina, Charleston, SC, 29425, USA

    Matthew W. Feltenstein & Ronald E. See

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  1. Deanne M. Buffalari
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  2. Matthew W. Feltenstein
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  3. Ronald E. See
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Correspondence to Deanne M. Buffalari.

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Buffalari, D.M., Feltenstein, M.W. & See, R.E. The effects of varied extinction procedures on contingent cue-induced reinstatement in Sprague-Dawley rats. Psychopharmacology 230, 319–327 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00213-013-3156-z

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