Cited by 127Neurotransmitter Receptor Influence on BehaviorSubstance Abuse Treatment and OutcomesOpioid Use Disorder Treatment

Operant Social Reward Decreases Incubation of Heroin Craving in Male and Female Rats

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Venniro, Marco, Russell, Trinity I., Zhang, Michelle, Shaham, Yavin·2019·Biological Psychiatry

Abstract

Background We recently reported that operant social choice-induced voluntary abstinence prevents incubation of methamphetamine craving. Here, we determined whether social choice-induced voluntary abstinence would prevent incubation of heroin craving. We also introduce a fully automatic social reward self-administration model that eliminates the intense workload and rat-human interaction of the original semiautomatic model.Methods In experiment 1, we trained male and female rats for social self-administration (6 days) and then for heroin self-administration (12 days). Next, we assessed relapse to heroin seeking after 1 and 15 abstinence days. Between tests, the rats underwent either forced or social choice-induced abstinence. In experiment 2, we developed a fully automatic social self-administration procedure by introducing a screen between the self-administration chamber and the social-peer chamber; the screen allows physical contact but prevents rats from crossing chambers. Next, we compared incubation of craving in rats with a history of standard (no-screen) or automatic (screen) social self-administration and social choice-induced abstinence.Results The time-dependent increase in heroin seeking after cessation of drug self-administration (incubation of craving) was lower after social choice-induced abstinence than after forced abstinence. There were no differences in social self-administration, social choice-induced abstinence, and incubation of craving in rats trained in the standard semiautomatic procedure versus the novel fully automatic procedure.Conclusions Our study demonstrates the protective effect of rewarding social interaction on heroin self-administration and incubation of heroin craving and introduces a fully automatic social self-administration and choice procedure to investigate the role of volitional social interaction in drug addiction and other psychiatric disorders.

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Crossref · 10.1016/j.biopsych.2019.05.018

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  • The opportunity to socialize reduces drug seeking for both methamphetamine and heroin.

    “the opportunity to socialize reduces drug seeking for both methamphetamine and heroin [145,146].”

    From Neural circuits regulating prosocial behaviors (2023) · cites this paper as [146]

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Authors
Venniro, M., Russell, T. I., Zhang, M., & Shaham, Y.
Affiliations
National Institutes of Health (US)
Venue
Biological Psychiatry
Publisher
Elsevier BV
Published
2019-12
Volume
86
Issue
11
Pages
848-856
ISSN
0006-3223 (ISSN-L)
OpenAlex
W2947439413
Cited by
127
References
75
Citations by year
2026: 6 · 2025: 16 · 2024: 16 · 2023: 13 · 2022: 28 · 2021: 25 · 2020: 21 · 2019: 2
FWCI
9.07
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Locations
  • Biological Psychiatry (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed Central (acceptedVersion)
Funders
  • National Institute on Drug Abuse
  • National Institutes of Health
  • National Alliance for Research
Topics
  • Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cellular and Molecular Neuroscience › Neurotransmitter Receptor Influence on Behavior
  • Health Sciences › Medicine › Epidemiology › Substance Abuse Treatment and Outcomes
  • Health Sciences › Medicine › Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health › Opioid Use Disorder Treatment
Keywords
heroin craving, incubation of craving, social reward, heroin self-administration, relapse, sex differences, drug addiction, social interaction
MeSH terms
Animals, Behavior, Animal, Choice Behavior, Heroin, Extinction, Psychological, Feeding Behavior, Female, Male, Methamphetamine, Reward, Self Administration, Social Behavior, Rats, Sprague-Dawley, Rats, Drug-Seeking Behavior, Craving

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