Loss of Alternative Non-Drug Reinforcement Induces Relapse of Cocaine-Seeking in Rats: Role of Dopamine D1 Receptors

Abstract

Animal models of relapse to drug seeking have focused primarily on relapse induced by exposure to drugs, drug-associated cues or contexts, and foot-shock stress. However, relapse in human drug abusers is often precipitated by loss of alternative non-drug reinforcement. The present experiment used a novel “resurgence” paradigm to examine relapse to cocaine seeking of rats as a result of loss of an alternative source of non-drug reinforcement. Rats were first trained to press a lever for intravenous infusions of cocaine. Next, cocaine deliveries were omitted and food pellets were provided for an alternative nose-poke response. Once cocaine seeking was reduced to low levels, food pellets for the alternative response were also omitted. Cocaine seeking increased with the loss of the alternative non-drug reinforcer (i.e., resurgence occurred) despite continued extinction conditions. The increase in cocaine seeking did not occur in another group of rats injected with SCH 23390 prior to the loss of the alternative reinforcer. These results suggest that removal of an alternative source of reinforcement may induce relapse of cocaine seeking and that the dopamine D1 receptor may play a role in this effect.

Behavioral momentum and resurgence: Effects of time in extinction and repeated resurgence tests

“…This simulation in Fig. 1 is supported by evidence from two studies, Quick et al (2011) and Wacker et al (2011). Quick et al investigated resurgence of cocaine seeking in rats following the removal of alternative food reinforcement for nose pokes during extinction.…”

“…Many popular behavioral treatments involve alternative reinforcement, such as contingency management for substance abuse (e.g., Higgins et al, 2010; Silverman et al, 2007) and differential reinforcement of alternative behavior (DRA) in individuals with intellectual or developmental disabilities (Petscher, Rey, & Bailey, 2009). Although treatments that use alternative reinforcement are often effective at reducing problem behavior during treatment, the risk of relapse when alternative reinforcement is reduced or removed has led to a recent revival in basic (Lieving & Lattal, 2003; Quick, Pyszczynski, Colston, & Shahan, 2011; Winterbauer & Bouton, 2010) and applied (Volkert, Lerman, Call,& Trosclaire-Lasserre, 2009) research on resurgence (see Lattal & St. Peter Pipkin, 2009, for a review).…”

Loss of nondrug reinforcement in one context produces alcohol seeking in another context

“…A potential advantage of the resurgence preparations used by Podlesnik et al (2006) and Quick et al (2011) and the resurgence-like experimental arrangement used in the present experiments is that they may be useful in modeling the events surrounding relapse experienced by some drug users. For instance, removal of rewarding events, such as unemployment, can cause increased drug intake and trigger relapse (Temple et al, 1991;Gallo et al, 2001;Falba et al, 2005).…”

“…Our laboratory has also shown that loss of an alternative nondrug source of reinforcement can produce increases in extinguished alcohol-seeking (Podlesnik et al, 2006) or cocaine-seeking (Quick et al, 2011) of rats in a resurgence paradigm (see Marchant et al, 2013, for a review). Within the resurgence procedure, a response (R1) is first maintained through contingent drug deliveries.…”

Feeding preferences of experienced and naïve goats and sheep for the toxic plant <italic>Ipomoea carnea</italic> subsp. <italic>fistulosa</italic>

“…However, strong preference to foods are a complex interaction of many factors, difficult to study even in highly controlled research settings with rodents (CORWIN et al, 2011). To answer this question definitively will likely require research in which rodents self administer purified swainsonine, similar to strong preference studies with compounds of abuse in which rats are first trained to press a lever for intravenous infusions (e.g., QUICK et al, 2011).…”