Animal studies of addictive behavior.
Cold Spring Harbor Perspectives in Medicine. 2012-12-18; 3(4): a011932-a011932
DOI: 10.1101/cshperspect.a011932
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1. Cold Spring Harb Perspect Med. 2013 Apr 1;3(4):a011932. doi:
10.1101/cshperspect.a011932.
Animal studies of addictive behavior.
Vanderschuren LJ(1), Ahmed SH.
Author information:
(1)Department of Animals in Science and Society, Division of Behavioural
Neuroscience, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Utrecht University, 3584 CG
Utrecht, The Netherlands.
It is increasingly recognized that studying drug taking in laboratory animals
does not equate to studying genuine addiction, characterized by loss of control
over drug use. This has inspired recent work aimed at capturing genuine
addiction-like behavior in animals. In this work, we summarize empirical evidence
for the occurrence of several DSM-IV-like symptoms of addiction in animals after
extended drug use. These symptoms include escalation of drug use, neurocognitive
deficits, resistance to extinction, increased motivation for drugs, preference
for drugs over nondrug rewards, and resistance to punishment. The fact that
addiction-like behavior can occur and be studied in animals gives us the exciting
opportunity to investigate the neural and genetic background of drug addiction,
which we hope will ultimately lead to the development of more effective
treatments for this devastating disorder.
DOI: 10.1101/cshperspect.a011932
PMCID: PMC3683998
PMID: 23249442 [Indexed for MEDLINE]