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Updated: May 27, 2026

A Protocol for Measuring Cue Reactivity in a Rat Model of Cocaine Use Disorder
Published on: June 18, 2018
Cannabis cue-elicited craving and the reward neurocircuitry
Francesca M Filbey1, Samuel J DeWitt
1Center for BrainHealth, School of Behavioral and Brain Sciences, University of Texas at Dallas, Dallas, TX 75235, USA. francesca.filbey@utdallas.edu
Abstract:
Cue-elicited craving or the intense desire to consume a substance following exposure to a conditioned drug cue is one of the primary behavioral symptoms of substance use disorders (SUDs). While the concept of cue-elicited craving is well characterized in alcohol and other substances of abuse, only recently has it been described in cannabis. A review of the extant literature has established that cue-elicited craving is a powerful reinforcer that contributes to drug-seeking for cannabis. Further, emergent research has begun to identify the neurobiological systems and neural mechanisms associated with this behavior. What research shows is that while theories of THC's effects on the dopaminergic-reward system remain divergent, cannabis cues elicit neural activation in the brain's reward network.
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