Rationale-The nucleus accumbens (NAC) is a functionally heterogeneous brain region with respect to its involvement in cocaine-seeking behavior triggered by drug-associated explicit conditioned stimuli, foot shock stress, or cocaine itself in the reinstatement animal model of drug relapse. However, it is not known whether the NAC or its subregions are critical for reinstatement of cocaine-seeking behavior produced by re-exposure to a previously cocaine-paired environmental context.Objectives-The present study was designed to evaluate potentially unique contributions of the NAC core and shell to this behavior.Materials and methods-Rats were trained to lever press for unsignaled cocaine infusions (0.15 mg/infusion, intravenous) in a distinct environmental context. Lever responding was then extinguished in a distinctly different environmental context (extinction context) during a minimum of seven daily training sessions. Subsequently, using a counterbalanced testing design, rats were reexposed to the cocaine-paired context or the extinction context while cocaine seeking (i.e., responding on the previously cocaine-reinforced lever) was assessed. Before each test session, neural activity was inhibited selectively in the NAC core or shell using bilateral microinfusions of the γ-aminobutyric acid agonists, baclofen and muscimol (0/0 or 1.0/0.1 mM; 0.3 μl per hemisphere).Results-Neural inactivation of the NAC shell or core attenuated responding in the cocaine context and, interestingly, increased responding in the extinction context. Control experiments indicated no effects on general activity or food-reinforced instrumental behavior.Conclusions-These findings suggest that both subregions of the NAC may promote contextinduced reinstatement by facilitating drug context-induced motivation for cocaine and context discrimination.

Understanding the neurobiological underpinnings of putative memory stabilization processes that maintain context-response-cocaine associations in long-term memory and underlie contextual control over addictive behavior is of great interest from an addiction treatment perspective. Using an instrumental animal model of contextual drug relapse, we show that the protein synthesis inhibitor, anisomycin, administered into the basolateral amygdala (BLA) immediately after limited (15-or 60-min) re-exposure to a previously cocaine-paired context subsequently disrupted the ability of the previously cocaine-paired context to reinstate extinguished cocaine-seeking behavior relative to vehicle. Consistent with a BLA-mediated memory reconsolidation deficit, similar impairment in cocaine-seeking behavior was not observed in "no-reactivation" control groups that received anisomycin into the BLA after (re)exposure to either a novel unpaired or an extinctionpaired context nor in a neuroanatomical control group that received anisomycin into the posterior caudate-putamen, dorsally adjacent to the BLA, after re-exposure to the cocaine-paired context. Furthermore, anisomycin administered into the BLA after brief (5-min) or extensive (120-min) reexposure to the cocaine-paired context (which was sufficient to extinguish cocaine-seeking behavior in a vehicle control group) also failed to alter responding. Together, these findings suggest that re-exposure to a cocaine-paired context in the absence of cocaine reinforcement is sufficient to trigger memory reconsolidation processes that support future drug-seeking behavior. The presence and duration of drug-related memory reactivation critically influences and anisomycin-sensitive mechanisms in the BLA selectively control this phenomenon. These findings support the feasibility of novel pharmacotherapeutic approaches that selectively inhibit the reconsolidation of cocaine-related memories in order to prevent drug relapse.

Exposure to a cocaine-paired context increases the propensity for relapse in cocaine users and prompts cocaine-seeking behavior in rats. According to the reconsolidation hypothesis, upon context re-exposure, established cocaine-related associations are retrieved and can become labile. These associations must undergo reconsolidation into long-term memory to effect enduring stimulus control. The dorsal hippocampus (DH), dorsolateral caudate-putamen, and dorsomedial prefrontal cortex are critical for the expression of context-induced cocaine seeking, and these brain regions may also play a role in the reconsolidation of cocaine-related memories that promote this behavior. To test this hypothesis, rats were trained to press a lever for un-signaled cocaine infusions (0.2 mg/infusion, IV) in a distinct environmental context (cocaine-paired context), followed by extinction training in a different context (extinction context). Rats were then reexposed to the cocaine-paired context for 15 min in order to reactivate cocaine-related memories or received comparable exposure to a novel unpaired context. Immediately thereafter, rats received bilateral microinfusions of the protein synthesis inhibitor anisomycin, the sodium channel blocker tetrodotoxin, or vehicle into one of the above brain regions. After additional extinction training in the extinction context, reinstatement of cocaine-seeking behavior (i.e., non-reinforced lever presses) was assessed in the cocaine-paired context. Tetrodotoxin, but not anisomycin, administered into the DH inhibited drug context-induced cocaine-seeking behavior in a memory reactivation-dependent manner. Other manipulations failed to alter this behavior. These findings suggest that the DH facilitates the reconsolidation of associative memories that maintain contextinduced cocaine-seeking behavior, but it is not the site of anisomycin-sensitive memory restabilization per se. KeywordsCocaine; Context; Reinstatement; Rat Understanding the neurobiological bases of drug relapse will be essential for the development of successful treatments for cocaine dependence. Exposure to a cocaineassociated context is a major factor that elicits relapse in cocaine users and cocaine-seeking behavior in laboratory animals (Markou et al., 1993;O'Brien et al., 1998). Furthermore, abnormally strong long-term memories of context-response-drug associations may result in intrusive thoughts about drug taking and habitual drug seeking (Tiffany, 1990;Everitt et al., 2001). According to the memory reconsolidation hypothesis, long-term memories become destabilized upon retrieval and must undergo reconsolidation into long-term memory to

The ventral hippocampus (VH) plays critical roles in cue-induced and cocaine-primed reinstatement of cocaine seeking (Rogers and See, 2007). Subregions of the VH make distinct projections to elements of the brain relapse circuitry that mediate drug context-induced reinstatement. Thus, the VH may also critically contribute to this form of cocaine seeking in a subregion-specific manner. Accordingly, this study evaluated the hypothesis that functional inactivation of the ventral hippocampus proper (VHp) -but not of the dentate gyrus (DG) -impairs cocaine seeking elicited by re-exposure to a drug-paired environmental context. Rats were trained to lever press for un-signaled intravenous cocaine infusions (0.15 mg/infusion) in a distinct environmental context (cocaine-paired context) followed by extinction training in a distinctly different context (extinction context). Subsequently, cocaine-seeking behavior (i.e., non-reinforced active lever responding) was assessed in either the previously cocaine-paired context or the extinction context. Rats received bilateral microinfusions of the gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA) agonist cocktail, baclofen+muscimol (BM: 1.0/.01mM), or vehicle into the VHp, DG, or the posterior dorsal hippocampus (pDH; extra-VH control) immediately before each test session. Exposure to the previously cocaine-paired context, but not the extinction context, reinstated extinguished cocaine-seeking behavior following vehicle pretreatment. BM pretreatment administered into the VHp, but not the DG or pDH, significantly attenuated drug context-induced cocaine seeking. These results indicate that the VH contributes to drug context-induced cocaine seeking in a subregion-specific manner, with the functional integrity of the VHp being necessary for memory or motivational aspects of drug-paired environmental stimuli that sustain stimulus control over goal-directed behavior.

RATIONALE The functional integrity of the dorsal hippocampus (DH) is necessary for drug context-induced reinstatement of cocaine seeking. However, the neuropharmacological mechanisms of this phenomenon are poorly understood. OBJECTIVES Given the known significance of group I metabotropic glutamate receptors (group I mGluRs), including the mGluR1 subtype, in drug-induced behaviors, the present study was designed to evaluate the contribution of mGluR1s in the DH to drug context-induced reinstatement of extinguished cocaine-seeking behavior. METHODS Sprague-Dawley rats were trained to lever press for unsignaled cocaine infusions in a distinct environmental context (cocaine-paired context) followed by extinction training in a distinctly different environmental context (extinction context). Using a counterbalanced within-subject testing design, rats were re-exposed to the cocaine-paired context or the extinction context while cocaine-seeking behavior (non-reinforced active lever pressing) was assessed. Prior to each test session, rats received bilateral microinfusions of the highly potent mGluR1-selective antagonist JNJ16259685 (0.6, 30 or 120 pg/0.5 µl per hemisphere) or 0.1 % DMSO vehicle into the DH or the overlying somatosensory cortex trunk region (SStr, anatomical control). RESULTS Intra-DH, but not intra-SStr, JNJ16259685 infusions dose-dependently attenuated drug context-induced reinstatement of cocaine seeking, without attenuating instrumental behavior in the extinction context, general motor activity, or food-reinforced instrumental behavior in control experiments. CONCLUSIONS Stimulation of mGluR1s in the DH is necessary for incentive motivational and/or memory processes that contribute to drug context-induced cocaine-seeking behavior. These findings indicate that the mGluR1 is an interesting target from an addiction treatment perspective.