These findings have strong implications for the role of cholinergic systems in controlling drug intake and potentially for the development of treatment strategies. Escalation of self-administration behavior is particularly relevant to cocaine addiction, and the paradigm we (as well as other labs) have used has construct and predictive validity as a model of uncontrolled drug intake in humans. Our data may have important implications for the development of potential therapeutics. For example, it is possible that new treatments that target nAChRs could interfere with the redevelopment of escalation in addicts when they leave in-patient treatment programs. There is support for this hypothesis since addicts report lower levels of cocaine craving following administration of MEC [70].
