ArticleNature protocols2020
An operant social self-administration and choice model in rats.
Article in Nature protocols, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 70 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
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Who cites it
70 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- Age-related differences in the effect of chronic alcohol on cognition and the brain: a systematic review.Translational psychiatry · 2022Pooled it
- Sex Differences in Opioid and Psychostimulant Craving and Relapse: A Critical Review.Pharmacological reviews · 2022Pooled it
- Exercise as a Neurobiological Intervention: Utilizing NAc Circuitry to Combat Addiction.Addiction neuroscience · 2026Article
- Endocannabinoid metabolism at VTA GABAergic neurons gates motivation for social, but not food, reward.Neuropsychopharmacology : official publication of the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology · 2026Article
- Oxytocin promotes socially triggered cataplexy.Nature neuroscience · 2026Article
- Early life adversity disrupts adult social reward motivation.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2026Article
- Social context in renewal of cocaine and fentanyl seeking: role of peer presence versus peer absence.Psychopharmacology · 2026Article
- Stem Cell Models for Elucidating Cellular Mechanisms of Substance Use Disorders and Advancing Addiction Pharmacology.Stem cells international · 2026Review
- Disrupted synapses: prefrontal cortex-reward circuit dysfunction in stress-induced depression-like behaviors.Frontiers in cellular neuroscience · 2026Review
- [Establishment and evaluation of rat and mouse models with addictive behaviors].Zhong nan da xue xue bao. Yi xue ban = Journal of Central South University. Medical sciences · 2025Review
- Utility of substance-free alternatives in treating and preventing harmful substance use: A narrative review of the translational research spectrum.Drug and alcohol dependence reports · 2025Review
- A rat model of volitional mutual social interactions.Neuropsychopharmacology : official publication of the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology · 2025Article
- Operant social seeking to a novel peer after social isolation is associated with activation of nucleus accumbens shell in rats.Psychopharmacology · 2025Article
- Operant social self-administration in male CD1 mice.Psychopharmacology · 2025Article
- Time to choose: impact of intertrial interval on selecting between methamphetamine and food reinforcement in male and female rats.Psychopharmacology · 2025Article
- Chromosomal and gonadal sex have differing effects on social motivation in mice.Biology of sex differences · 2025Article
- Cross-species translational paradigms for assessing positive valence system as defined by the RDoC matrix.Journal of neurochemistry · 2025Review
- Article
- The positive reinforcing effects of cocaine and opposite-sex social contact: roles of biological sex and estrus.Psychopharmacology · 2025Article
- Transient impact of chronic social stress on effort-based reward motivation in non-food restricted mice: Involvement of corticosterone.Neurobiology of stress · 2024Article
10 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
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Authors and funding
2 authors.
Funding
Abstract
It is difficult to translate results from animal research on addiction to an understanding of the behavior of human drug users. Despite decades of basic research on neurobiological mechanisms of drug addiction, treatment options remain largely unchanged. A potential reason for this is that mechanistic studies using rodent models do not incorporate a critical facet of human addiction: volitional choices between drug use and non-drug social rewards (e.g., employment and family). Recently, we developed an operant model in which rats press a lever for rewarding social interaction with a peer and then choose between an addictive drug (heroin or methamphetamine) and social interaction. Using this model, we showed that rewarding social interaction suppresses drug self-administration, relapse to drug seeking, and brain responses to drug-associated cues. Here, we describe a protocol for operant social interaction using a discrete-trial choice between drugs and social interaction that causes voluntary abstinence from the drug and tests for incubation of drug craving (the time-dependent increase in drug seeking during abstinence). This protocol is flexible but generally requires 8-9 weeks for completion. We also provide a detailed description of the technical requirements and procedures for building the social self-administration and choice apparatus. Our protocol provides a reliable way to study the role of operant social reward in addiction and addiction vulnerability in the context of choices. We propose that this protocol can be used to study brain mechanisms of operant social reward and potentially impairments in social reward in animal models of psychiatric disorders and pain.
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