The Graduate Center of the City University of New York, 365 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10016, USA.
The Graduate Center of the City University of New York, 365 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10016, USA; Department of Psychology, Queens College, City University of New York, 65-30 Kissena Blvd., Flushing, NY 11367, USA.
Pharmacol Biochem Behav. 2018 Mar;166:35-41. doi: 10.1016/j.pbb.2018.01.006. Epub 2018 Jan 31.
In this study, we sought to discover if housing in an enriched environment (EE) is an efficacious intervention for encouraging abstinence from cocaine seeking in an animal "conflict" model of abstinence. Sixteen Long-Evans rats were trained in 3-h daily sessions to self-administer a cocaine solution (1 mg/kg/infusion) until each demonstrated a stable pattern of drug-seeking. Afterward, half were placed in EE cages equipped with toys, obstacles, and a running wheel, while the other half were given clean, standard laboratory housing. All rats then completed daily 30-min sessions during which the 2/3 of flooring closest to the self-administration levers was electrified, causing discomfort should they approach the levers; current strength (mA) was increased after every day of drug seeking until the rat ceased activity on the active lever for 3 consecutive sessions (abstinence). Rats housed in EE abstained after fewer days and at lower current strengths than rats in standard housing. These results support the idea that EE administered after the development of a cocaine-taking habit may be an effective strategy to facilitate abstinence.
在这项研究中，我们试图探索在动物“冲突”模型的禁欲中，丰富环境（EE）中的住房是否是一种有效的干预措施，以鼓励戒除可卡因的行为。16 只长耳兔在每天 3 小时的训练中自行注射 1mg/kg/次的可卡因溶液，直到它们表现出稳定的觅药模式。之后，一半的兔子被安置在配备有玩具、障碍物和跑步轮的 EE 笼子里，而另一半则被给予干净的标准实验室住房。所有的兔子都完成了每天 30 分钟的训练，在这个训练中，离自我给药杠杆最近的 2/3 的地板被通电，如果它们接近杠杆，就会感到不适；电流强度（mA）在每天的觅药后增加，直到兔子连续 3 个疗程（禁欲）在主动杠杆上停止活动。在 EE 中饲养的兔子比在标准住房中饲养的兔子更快地戒除可卡因，所需的电流强度也更低。这些结果支持了这样一种观点，即在养成可卡因吸食习惯后实施的 EE 可能是促进戒除的有效策略。
