Discriminating goal-directed and habitual cocaine seeking in rats using a novel outcome devaluation procedure.

ABSTRACT: Habits are theorized to play a key role in compulsive cocaine seeking, yet there is limited methodology for assessing habitual responding for intravenous (IV) cocaine. We developed a novel outcome devaluation procedure to discriminate goal-directed from habitual responding in cocaine-seeking rats. This procedure elicits devaluation temporarily and requires no additional training, allowing repeated testing at different time points. After training male rats to self-administer IV cocaine, we devalued the drug outcome via experimenter-administered IV cocaine (a "satiety" procedure) prior to a 10-min extinction test. Many rats were sensitive to outcome devaluation, a hallmark of goal-directed responding. These animals reduced responding when given a dose of experimenter-administered cocaine tha

SUBMITTER: Jones BO 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9749853 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature