Related Experiment Video
Updated: Aug 25, 2026

A Protocol for Measuring Cue Reactivity in a Rat Model of Cocaine Use Disorder
Published on: June 18, 2018
Olanzapine attenuates cue-elicited craving for tobacco
Kent E Hutchison1, Marie-Christine Rutter, Raymond Niaura
1Department of Psychology, University of Colorado, Campus Box 345, Boulder, CO, 80309-0345, USA. kenth@psych.colorado.edu
Rationale:
Recent biological conceptualizations of craving and addiction have implicated mesolimbic dopamine activity as a central feature of the process of addiction. Imaging, and pharmacological studies have supported a role for dopaminergic structures in cue-elicited craving for tobacco.
Objective:
If mesolimbic dopamine activity is associated with cue-elicited craving for tobacco, a dopamine antagonist should attenuate cue-elicited craving for tobacco. Thus, the aim of the present study was to determine whether an atypical antipsychotic (olanzapine, 5 mg) decreased cue-elicited craving for tobacco.
Method:
Participants were randomly assigned to 5 days of pretreatment with olanzapine (5 mg; n=31) or were randomly assigned to 5 days of a matching placebo (n=28). Approximately 8 h after the last dose, participants were exposed to a control cue (pencil) followed by exposure to smoking cues. Participants subsequently smoked either nicotine cigarettes or de-nicotinized cigarettes.
Results:
Olanzapine attenuated cue-elicited craving for tobacco but did not moderate the subjective effects of smoking.
Discussion:
This study represents one of the first investigations of the effect of atypical antipsychotics on cue-elicited craving for tobacco. The results suggest that medications with similar profiles may reduce cue-elicited craving, which in turn, may partially explain recent observations that atypical antipsychotics may reduce substance use.
Related Concept Videos
CNS Depressants: Alcohol and Nicotine
Drug Dependence
Drug Abuse and Addiction: Pharmacological Phenomena
Chemotherapy-Induced Nausea and Vomiting: Cannabinoids
Two synthetic agonists of THC,...
Antidepressant Drugs: MAOIs and Other Agents
Psychosis: Goals of Pharmacotherapy
