ArticleNeuropsychopharmacology : official publication of the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology2017
Varenicline Reduces Context-Induced Relapse to Alcohol-Seeking through Actions in the Nucleus Accumbens.
Article in Neuropsychopharmacology : official publication of the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology, 2017. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 16 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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Who cites it
16 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.
- The role of nicotinic receptors in alcohol consumption.Pharmacological research · 2023Pooled it
- Effects of varenicline on alcohol cue reactivity in heavy drinkers.Psychopharmacology · 2017Trial
- Examining the predictive validity of alcohol-seeking following punishment-imposed abstinence in mice.Alcohol, clinical & experimental research · 2025Article
- Identification of the circRNA-miRNA-mRNA network for treating methamphetamine-induced relapse and behavioral sensitization with cannabidiol.CNS neuroscience & therapeutics · 2024Article
- Learning processes in relapse to alcohol use: lessons from animal models.Psychopharmacology · 2023Review
- Specificity of Varenicline in Blocking Mesolimbic Circuit Activation to Natural and Drug Rewards.Neuroscience · 2022Article
- The role of nicotinic acetylcholine receptors in alcohol-related behaviors.Brain research bulletin · 2020Review
- Considering Drug-Associated Contexts in Substance Use Disorders and Treatment Development.Neurotherapeutics : the journal of the American Society for Experimental NeuroTherapeutics · 2020Review
- Comparing ABA, AAB, and ABC Renewal of Appetitive Pavlovian Conditioned Responding in Alcohol- and Sucrose-Trained Male Rats.Frontiers in behavioral neuroscience · 2020Article
- Differential regulation of alcohol taking and seeking by antagonism at α4β2 and α3β4 nAChRs.Psychopharmacology · 2018Article
- Muscarinic MNeuropsychopharmacology : official publication of the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology · 2018Article
- Medications for alcohol use disorders: An overview.Pharmacology & therapeutics · 2018Review
- The nicotinic receptor drug sazetidine-A reduces alcohol consumption in mice without affecting concurrent nicotine consumption.Neuropharmacology · 2018Article
- Co-Administration of Low-Dose Naltrexone and Bupropion Reduces Alcohol Drinking in Alcohol-Preferring (P) Rats.Alcoholism, clinical and experimental research · 2018Article
- Alcohol and basal ganglia circuitry: Animal models.Neuropharmacology · 2017Review
- Varenicline Reduces Alcohol Intake During Repeated Cycles of Alcohol Reaccess Following Deprivation in Alcohol-Preferring (P) Rats.Alcoholism, clinical and experimental research · 2017Article
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Authors and funding
5 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Varenicline, a pharmacotherapy for tobacco addiction, reduces alcohol consumption in humans and rodents. The therapeutic potential of varenicline would escalate if it also diminished conditioned responses elicited by alcohol-predictive cues, which can precipitate relapse in abstinent individuals. We investigated this application, along with the underlying neural substrates, using a robust preclinical assay in which relapse to alcohol-seeking was triggered by re-exposure to an alcohol-associated environmental context. Male, Long-Evans rats received Pavlovian conditioning sessions in which one auditory conditioned stimulus (CS+) was paired with 15% ethanol and a second conditioned stimulus (CS-) was not. Ethanol was delivered into a port for oral consumption and port entries triggered by each CS were recorded. Extinction was then conducted in a different context where the CS+ and CS- were presented without ethanol. To stimulate relapse, both cues were subsequently presented without ethanol in the prior conditioning context. Systemic varenicline (0, 0.5 or 2.5 mg/kg; intraperitoneal) blocked context-induced relapse to alcohol-seeking without affecting the ability to make a port entry. It also reduced context-induced relapse to sucrose-seeking, but only at the 2.5 mg/kg dose. Neuropharmacological studies showed that context-induced relapse to alcohol-seeking was attenuated by bilateral microinfusion of varenicline (0.3 μl/side) into the nucleus accumbens (NAc; 0 or 3.5 μg), but not the ventral tegmental area (0, 2 or 4 μg). These data show for the first time that varenicline reduces relapse triggered by contexts that predict alcohol, and suggest that nicotinic acetylcholine receptors in the NAc are critical for this effect.
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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.