Relapse to opioid seeking in rat models: behavior, pharmacology and circuits

Lifetime relapse rates remain a major obstacle in addressing the current opioid crisis. Relapse to opioid use can be modeled in rodent studies where drug self-administration is followed by a period of abstinence and a subsequent test for drug seeking. Abstinence can be achieved through extinction training, forced abstinence, or voluntary abstinence. Voluntary abstinence can be accomplished by introducing adverse consequences of continued drug...