US EPA

8324612 

Journal Article 

Drug wanting: Behavioral sensitization and relapse to drug-seeking behavior 

Steketee, JD; Kalivas, PW 

2011 

1 

Pharmacological Reviews
ISSN: 0031-6997
EISSN: 1521-0081 

63 

2 

348-365 

English 

10.1124/pr.109.001933 

Repeated exposure to drugs of abuse enhances the motor-stimulant response to these drugs, a phenomenon termed behavioral sensitization. Animals that are extinguished from self-administration training readily relapse to drug, conditioned cue, or stress priming. The involvement of sensitization in reinstated drug-seeking behavior remains controversial. This review describes sensitization and reinstated drug seeking as behavioral events, and the neural circuitry, neurochemistry, and neuropharmacology underlying both behavioral models will be described, compared, and contrasted. It seems that although sensitization and reinstatement involve overlapping circuitry and neurotransmitter and receptor systems, the role of sensitization in reinstatement remains ill-defined. Nevertheless, it is argued that sensitization remains a useful model for determining the neural basis of addiction, and an example is provided in which data from sensitization studies led to potential pharmacotherapies that have been tested in animal models of relapse and in human addicts. © 2011 by The American Society for Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics.