Stress reinstates cocaine-seeking behavior after prolonged extinction and a drug-free period.
Level 5 - mechanism / opinion, no new human data
Preclinical animal behavioral study
PubMed 8986011 · doi:10.1007/s002130050150
What was done
Rats were trained to self-administer intravenous cocaine (1.0 mg/kg per infusion during one 3-hour session per day for 12 days). Extinction was induced by substituting saline for cocaine until responding fell to 15 or fewer responses per 3 hours, and baseline was established at 10 or fewer responses. Animals were then tested for reinstatement of responding for saline infusions following either a priming injection of cocaine (2.0 mg/kg, i.v.) or acute intermittent footshock stress (10 min, 0.5 mA, 0.5 s on, mean off period 40 s). Tests were repeated after an additional 4- to 6-week drug-free period.
What was found
Acute footshock stress and cocaine priming both induced reinstatement of cocaine-taking behavior following prolonged extinction and after the 4- to 6-week drug-free period. The abstract does not report specific numerical counts of lever presses, effect sizes, or test statistics.
Why it matters
This study demonstrates in a rodent model that acute physical stress can provoke relapse to cocaine-seeking behavior even after prolonged abstinence, showing an effect comparable to drug re-exposure.
Limits
The study is restricted to a rat model and footshock stress paradigm, limiting direct clinical generalizability. The abstract does not report sample size, control group details, or exact numerical response data and variance.
Cited by
- supports In rodent experiments where cocaine self-administration has been extinguished, applying a severe physical stressor such as a painful foot shock causes the rodent to immediately resume lever-pressing for cocaine.