The medial prefrontal cortex is required for responding to alcohol-predictive cues but only in the absence of alcohol delivery.

Background: The prelimbic medial prefrontal cortex is implicated in promoting drug-seeking in relapse tests. However, drug-seeking behaviour is typically extinguished before a test and tests normally occur without drug delivery.

Aims: We investigated the involvement of the prelimbic and the infralimbic cortex in responding elicited by a non-extinguished cue for alcohol that was presented without alcohol in an alcohol-associated context or a neutral context, and in responding to the same cue when it was paired with alcohol.

Nicotine-induced enhancement of Pavlovian alcohol-seeking behavior in rats.

Rationale: Nicotine enhances responding elicited by Pavlovian cues that predict positive outcomes.

Objectives: We tested the hypothesis that nicotine acting at nicotinic acetylcholine receptors (nAChRs) would augment Pavlovian alcohol-seeking.

Methods: Male, Long-Evans rats with unrestricted access to food and water were acclimated to drinking 15% ethanol in their home cages and then given Pavlovian conditioning sessions in which each trial of a 15-s conditioned stimulus (CS, 12 trials/session) was paired with 0.

Varenicline Reduces Context-Induced Relapse to Alcohol-Seeking through Actions in the Nucleus Accumbens.

Varenicline, a pharmacotherapy for tobacco addiction, reduces alcohol consumption in humans and rodents. The therapeutic potential of varenicline would escalate if it also diminished conditioned responses elicited by alcohol-predictive cues, which can precipitate relapse in abstinent individuals. We investigated this application, along with the underlying neural substrates, using a robust preclinical assay in which relapse to alcohol-seeking was triggered by re-exposure to an alcohol-associated environmental context.

Effects of sucrose concentration and water deprivation on Pavlovian conditioning and responding for conditioned reinforcement.

An appetitive Pavlovian conditioned stimulus (CS) can predict an unconditioned stimulus (US) and acquire incentive salience. We tested the hypothesis that US intensity and motivational state of the subject would influence Pavlovian learning and impact the attribution of incentive salience to an appetitive Pavlovian CS. To this end, we examined the effects of sucrose concentration and water deprivation on the acquisition of Pavlovian conditioning and responding for a conditioned reinforcer.

The attribution of incentive salience to Pavlovian alcohol cues: a shift from goal-tracking to sign-tracking.

Environmental stimuli that are reliably paired with alcohol may acquire incentive salience, a property that can operate in the use and abuse of alcohol. Here we investigated the incentive salience of Pavlovian alcohol cues using a preclinical animal model. Male, Long-Evans rats (Harlan) with unrestricted access to food and water were acclimated to drinking 15% ethanol (v/v) in their home-cages.