THC can act as an effective reinforcer of drug-taking behavior in monkeys with no history of exposure to other drugs, suggesting that self-administration of THC by monkeys provides a reliable animal model of human marijuana abuse.

Background-CB 1 cannabinoid receptors in the brain are known to participate in the regulation of reward-based behaviors, however, the contribution of each of the endocannabinoid transmitters, anandamide and 2-arachidonoylglycerol (2-AG), to these behaviors remains undefined. To address this question, we assessed the effects of URB597, a selective anandamide deactivation inhibitor, as a reinforcer of drug-seeking and drug-taking behavior in squirrel monkeys.

Background-Recent findings indicate that inhibitors of fatty acid amide hydrolase (FAAH) counteract the rewarding effects of nicotine in rats. FAAH inhibition increases levels of several endogenous substances in the brain, including the endocannabinoid anandamide and the noncannabinoid fatty-acid ethanolamides oleoylethanolamide (OEA) and palmitoylethanolamide (PEA), which are ligands for alpha-type peroxisome proliferator-activated nuclear receptors (PPAR-α). Here, we evaluated whether directly-acting PPAR-α agonists can modulate rewardrelated effects of nicotine.