Acute food deprivation-induced relapse to heroin seeking after short and long punishment-imposed abstinence in male rats.

Rational: Stress is a major trigger for drug relapse in humans and animal models, even after prolonged abstinence. However, animal models for stress-induced relapse were criticized for the lack of predictive and face validity.

Objectives: Here we investigated the effect of acute food deprivation stress in a novel stress-induced relapse model using voluntary, punishment-imposed abstinence from heroin.

Characterization of Affective Behaviors and Motor Functions in Mice With a Striatal-Specific Deletion of and .

The expression of circadian clock genes, either centrally or in the periphery, has been shown to play an integral role in the control of behavior. Brain region-specific downregulation of clock genes revealed behavioral phenotypes associated with neuropsychiatric disorders and neurodegenerative disease. The specific function of the clock genes as well as the underlying mechanisms that contribute to the observed phenotypes, however, are not yet fully understood.

Assessing the Role of Corticothalamic and Thalamo-Accumbens Projections in the Augmentation of Heroin Seeking in Chronically Food-Restricted Rats.

Drug addiction is a chronic disorder characterized by compulsive drug seeking, and involves repetitive cycles of compulsive drug use, abstinence, and relapse. In both human and animal models of addiction, chronic food restriction increases rates of relapse. Our laboratory has reported a robust increase in drug seeking following a period of withdrawal in chronically food-restricted rats compared with sated controls.