Varenicline Reduces Context-Induced Relapse to Alcohol-Seeking through Actions in the Nucleus Accumbens.

ABSTRACT: Varenicline, a pharmacotherapy for tobacco addiction, reduces alcohol consumption in humans and rodents. The therapeutic potential of varenicline would escalate if it also diminished conditioned responses elicited by alcohol-predictive cues, which can precipitate relapse in abstinent individuals. We investigated this application, along with the underlying neural substrates, using a robust preclinical assay in which relapse to alcohol-seeking was triggered by re-exposure to an alcohol-associated environmental context. Male, Long-Evans rats received Pavlovian conditioning sessions in which one auditory conditioned stimulus (CS+) was paired with 15% ethanol and a second conditioned stimulus (CS-) was not. Ethanol was delivered into a port for oral consumption and port entries triggered by eac

SUBMITTER: Lacroix F 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5506798 | biostudies-literature | 2017 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature