Resurgence of alcohol seeking following abstinence induced by punishment in male and female rats

Drug versus non‐drug behaviors: A dual‐reward model of sex differences and neurobiological mechanisms in rats

“…Figure 2A shows active responding during self‐administration for male and female rats. Because recent evidence suggests that males and females differ in their preference for drug versus non‐drug reinforcement (e.g., Anker et al, 2011; Becker, 2016; Kerstetter et al, 2012; Sutton et al, 2021; Townsend et al, 2019), we split the data for visual inspection and included statistical analyses of sex throughout. A 5 x 2 x 2 (Session x Response/Reinforcer type x Sex) three‐way repeated measures ANOVA indicated that food‐active responding was greater than cocaine‐active responding (main effect of response type; F [1,34] = 33.56, p < .001) and more pellets were earned than infusions (main effect of reinforcer type; F [1,34] = 39.53, p < .001).…”

“…Recent research has also indicated sex differences in behaviors related to SUDs; including drug versus non‐drug preference (e.g., Anker et al, 2011; Becker, 2016; Kerstetter et al, 2012; Sutton et al, 2021; Townsend et al, 2019) and relapse (e.g., Nicolas et al, 2019; Sutton et al, 2021; Venniro et al, 2017). While our data failed to show a statistically significant effect of sex on drug preference, visual comparisons trend toward stronger relative preference for cocaine reinforcement and greater cued reinstatement of cocaine seeking in female rats than male rats.…”

“…Thus, we also present a method for data analysis that attempts to normalize differences in reinforcer types by normalizing behaviors to their own baselines (i.e., cocaine extinction behavior is normalized to cocaine self‐administration behavior). Finally, because recent studies indicate sex differences in paradigms involving both drug and non‐drug reinforcement (e.g., Anker et al, 2011; Becker, 2016; Kerstetter et al, 2012; Sutton et al, 2021), we also used the model to separately examine male and female trends in drug versus non‐drug related behavior.…”

Resurgence of ethanol seeking following voluntary abstinence produced by nondrug differential reinforcement of other behavior

“…Others have incentivized abstinence from target behavior by manipulating variables such as (a) reinforcement schedules such that earning reinforcers for target behavior is more effortful than earning alternative reinforcers, (b) reinforcers such that the alternative reinforcer is subjectively more valuable than the target reinforcer, and (c) opportunity costs such that earning target reinforcers reduces the availability of alternative reinforcers (e.g., Bouton et al, 2017; Caprioli et al, 2015; Ginsburg & Lamb, 2013; Lenoir et al, 2007; Thrialkill & Alcalá, 2022; Venniro et al, 2017). Punishing consequences (e.g., foot shocks for rats) have also been used to reduce target behavior instead of extinction contingencies in the laboratory (e.g., Nall et al, 2019; Nall & Shahan, 2020; Sutton et al, 2021). With respect to this literature, the current experiment is novel in that voluntary abstinence was produced using a DRO schedule.…”

“…The pretraining sessions lasted for 30 min, excluding timeouts from sessions during reinforcement. Session durations here and below were based on those used in other studies that have focused on resurgence of ethanol‐maintained behavior (e.g., Nall et al, 2018; Podlesnik et al, 2006; Sutton et al, 2021). This phase lasted approximately 60 days.…”