At present, behavioral paradigms to model distinct aspects of addiction (for a review see (Everitt et al., 2008; Koob et al., 2009) in rodents remain limited, particularly for mice (see Box). Several well-described behavioral models in rats have nevertheless been successfully adapted to mice, and largely applied to mutant animals. Among these, voluntary/operant testing (two-bottle choice, TBC and self-administration, SA) addresses some aspects of binge intoxication and/or excessive consumption, and conditioned place preference (CPP) examines drug reward. Withdrawal and the negative effect of drug abstinence can be revealed by conditioned place aversion (CPA) and drug-induced physical withdrawal, and preoccupation/anticipation can be tested by drug-, cue- or stress-induced reinstatement of CPP. Finally locomotor activation by drugs of abuse, and sensitization to this effect upon repeated treatment, are also typical responses studied in rodents although no human correlate exists for this behavior. Data from all these tests are summarized in Tables 1 to 6, and main findings are summarized below.
