Context-Dependent Extinction and Return of Pavlovian Alcohol-Seeking Behavior in Male and Female Rats

Environmental cues can become conditioned stimuli when associated with alcohol consumption, facilitating alcohol-seeking behavior and increasing relapse risk. Extinguishing alcohol-seeking behavior may reduce cue-induced responses; however, conditioned responding often occurs when the cue is presented in a different context than the one where the behavior was extinguished. Although prior research suggests that males generally show stronger context-dependent return of conditioned appetitive and fear responses, it is not known whether this sex difference extends to conditioned responses to alcohol-associated cues.

After a 5-week alcohol induction period, adult male and female Long-Evans rats underwent Pavlovian conditioning in Context A, where a 15% unsweetened alcohol solution was paired with a light cue. Extinction sessions were conducted in a distinct Context B in the absence of alcohol, followed by a test session in Context B (LTM) and then in Context A.

Both sexes successfully extinguished alcohol-seeking behavior in Context B but exhibited robust alcohol-seeking behavior when reintroduced to the alcohol-associated context, Context A. No significant sex differences were observed in the magnitude of reemerged conditioned responding.

These findings suggest that changes of context induce alcohol-seeking behavior to return similarly in male and female rats, indicating that sex-independent mechanisms may underlie contextual relapse processes.