Jw. Grimm et al., Contingent access to stimuli associated with cocaine self-administration is required for reinstatement of drug-seeking behavior, PSYCHOBIOLO, 28(3), 2000, pp. 383-386
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 week
s 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 pressi
ng, (2) noncontingent, and (3) both contingent and noncontingent. Following
3 more extinction days, rats were again reintroduced to the compound stimu
lus, yet with contingent access to cocaine. Only the two groups with contin
gent presentation increased lever responding on the Ist day, while all grou
ps 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-s
eeking behavior may be relevant for studies of neural substrates of relapse
.