Chunk #70 — 5. Procedures for evaluating pharmacological treatments targeting alcohol abuse and dependence — 5.8. Models of ethanol-craving and -seeking in the operant chamber — 5.8.1. Pavlovian Spontaneous Recovery (PSR) of responding
can be delineated when assessed within the same animals. For example, in a study examining the maintenance of ethanol responding, ethanol seeking behavior (PSR), and relapse self-administration (ADE), it was found that LY404039, an mGluR2/3 agonist, reduced both ethanol-seeking behavior (PSR) and relapse ethanol-responding (ADE) but not the maintenance of ethanol-responding by P rats (Rodd et al., 2006). When evaluating the effects of SB-334867, an orexin1 receptor antagonist, on operant self-administration of ethanol by P rats, it was found that SB-334867 reduced relapse ethanol-responding (ADE), but not ethanol-seeking (PSR) behavior (Dhaher et al., 2010). These latter findings indicate that results from testing the effectiveness of a compound under one set of ethanol reward or reinforcement conditions do not necessarily reflect the effectiveness of the compound under different conditions. Therefore, just as a compound should be tested in multiple rat lines, with divergent genetic backgrounds, a compound should also be tested under multiple conditions in order to elucidate its efficacy under the myriad of conditions experienced by the alcoholic.
