Resurgence of punishment-suppressed cocaine seeking in rats

Alternative reinforcement-based treatments are among the most effective for reducing substance abuse. However, relapse often occurs when alternative reinforcement ends. Relapse following the loss of alternative reinforcement is called resurgence. An animal model has been used to study basic factors that may ultimately reduce resurgence but uses drug unavailability (i.e., extinction) to reduce drug seeking. In humans, drug abstinence is thought to be a product of aversive consequences associated with drug use rather than extinction. This discrepancy is important because the environmental and neurobiological factors involved in relapse may differ between punished and extinguished behavior. Experiment 1 evaluated resurgence of previously punished cocaine seeking. In Phase 1, rats earned cocaine for pressing levers. In Phase 2, cocaine remained available, but lever pressing also produced mild foot shocks while an alternative response produced food pellets for 1 group but not for another group. In Phase 3, alternative reinforcement and punishment were removed and resurgence of cocaine seeking occurred only in rats previously exposed to alternative reinforcement. In Experiment 2, resurgence was evaluated similarly, except that consequences of cocaine seeking (i.e., punishment and cocaine) remained available during Phase 3. Resurgence did not occur in either group during Experiment 2. The animal models of resurgence developed herein could increase translational utility and improve examination of the environmental and neurobiological factors underlying resurgence of drug seeking. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2020 APA, all rights reserved).