ArticlePsychopharmacology2015
The role of varenicline on alcohol-primed self-administration and seeking behavior in rats.
Article in Psychopharmacology, 2015. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 20 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
20 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 25 citations in OpenAlex.
- The role of nicotinic receptors in alcohol consumption.Pharmacological research · 2023Pooled it
- Varenicline for tobacco-dependence treatment in alcohol-dependent smokers: A randomized controlled trial.Drug and alcohol dependence · 2018Trial
- Effect of Varenicline Combined with High-Dose Alcohol on Craving, Subjective Intoxication, Perceptual Motor Response, and Executive Cognitive Function in Adults with Alcohol Use Disorders: Preliminary Findings.Alcoholism, clinical and experimental research · 2016Trial
- Effect of Lowering the Dose of Varenicline on Alcohol Self-administration in Drinkers With Alcohol Use Disorders.Journal of addiction medicineTrial
- Examining the predictive validity of alcohol-seeking following punishment-imposed abstinence in mice.Alcohol, clinical & experimental research · 2025Article
- The role of nicotinic acetylcholine receptors in alcohol-related behaviors.Brain research bulletin · 2020Review
- Therapeutic challenges for concurrent ethanol and nicotine consumption: naltrexone and varenicline fail to alter simultaneous ethanol and nicotine intake by female alcohol-preferring (P) rats.Psychopharmacology · 2019Article
- The mineralocorticoid receptor antagonist spironolactone reduces alcohol self-administration in female and male rats.Pharmacology, biochemistry, and behavior · 2018Article
- Discovery of a Potent, Selective, and Brain-Penetrant Small Molecule that Activates the Orphan Receptor GPR88 and Reduces Alcohol Intake.Journal of medicinal chemistry · 2018Article
- Silencing the insular-striatal circuit decreases alcohol self-administration and increases sensitivity to alcohol.Behavioural brain research · 2018Article
- New steps for treating alcohol use disorder.Psychopharmacology · 2018Review
- Effects of the nicotinic agonist varenicline, nicotinic antagonist r-bPiDI, and DAT inhibitor (R)-modafinil on co-use of ethanol and nicotine in female P rats.Psychopharmacology · 2018Article
- Functional role for cortical-striatal circuitry in modulating alcohol self-administration.Neuropharmacology · 2018Article
- The Effects of Long-Term Varenicline Administration on Ethanol and Sucrose Seeking and Self-Administration in Male P Rats.Alcoholism, clinical and experimental research · 2018Article
- Interactions between nicotine and drugs of abuse: a review of preclinical findings.The American journal of drug and alcohol abuse · 2017Review
- Modulation of sensitivity to alcohol by cortical and thalamic brain regions.The European journal of neuroscience · 2016Article
- The nicotine + alcohol interoceptive drug state: contribution of the components and effects of varenicline in rats.Psychopharmacology · 2016Article
- Gabapentin potentiates sensitivity to the interoceptive effects of alcohol and increases alcohol self-administration in rats.Neuropharmacology · 2016Article
- Effects of varenicline on operant self-administration of alcohol and/or nicotine in a rat model of co-abuse.Behavioural brain research · 2016Article
- Varenicline decreases nicotine but not alcohol self-administration in genetically selected Marchigian Sardinian alcohol-preferring (msP) rats.Drug and alcohol dependence · 2015Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
4 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
rationaleVarenicline, a smoking-cessation agent, may be useful in treating alcohol use disorders. An important consideration when studying factors that influence drinking/relapse is influence of the pharmacological effects of alcohol on these behaviors. Pre-exposure to alcohol (priming) can increase craving, drinking, and seeking behaviors.
objectivesThe primary goal of this work was to determine the effects of varenicline on alcohol-primed self-administration and seeking behavior in male Long-Evans rats.
methodsFirst, we assessed whether varenicline (0, 0.3, 1, 3 mg/kg, IP) has alcohol-like discriminative stimulus effects and whether varenicline alters sensitivity to alcohol in rats trained to discriminate a moderate alcohol dose (1 g/kg, IG) vs. water. Second, animals trained to self-administer alcohol underwent assessments to test the effects of: (i) varenicline (0, 0.3, 1, 3 mg/kg, IP) on self-administration, (ii) alcohol priming (0, 0.3, 1 g/kg, IG) on self-administration and seeking behavior, and (iii) varenicline (1 mg/kg) in combination with alcohol priming (1 g/kg) on these behaviors.
resultsVarenicline did not substitute for alcohol but disrupted the expression of sensitivity to alcohol. Varenicline decreased self-administration but only at a motor-impairing dose (3 mg/kg). Alcohol priming decreased self-administration and seeking behavior. Varenicline (1 mg/kg) blocked this effect under self-administration conditions, but not seeking conditions, which effectively resulted in increased alcohol intake.
conclusionsThese findings suggest the importance of further behavioral and mechanistic studies to evaluate the use of varenicline in treating alcohol use disorders and its potential impact on drinking patterns in smokers using varenicline as a smoking-cessation aid.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.