Ricerc@Sapienza

We recently introduced an animal model to study incubation of drug craving after prolonged voluntary abstinence, mimicking the human condition of relapse after successful contingency management treatment. Here we studied the role of the nucleus accumbens (NAc) in this model. We trained rats to self-administer a palatable solution (sucrose 1% + maltodextrin 1%, 6 h/day, 6 days) and methamphetamine (6 h/day, 12 days).

We introduced two novel models of choice-based voluntary abstinence and demonstrated the profound protective effects of positive social interaction on drug addiction and relapse in rat models. Our findings support wider implementation of social-based behavioral treatments, which include not only the established community reinforcement approach, but also social-based psychotherapies and family-based social support systems to provide social support before and during drug-seeking episodes.