Self-administration test

Description

Self administration is a classical model of human drug-taking behavior and consists in establishing in rodents an operant conditioning of an instrumental response (nose-poke, lever pressure) to obtain a reward, according to a fix or progressive ratio.

Self administration is a standard paradigm for studying the acute rewarding properties of drugs, the development of habitual drug-seeking behaviors, and ultimately, addiction. Moreover, this method can be used to assess the abuse potential of drugs.

OPERANT BOXES - PACKWIN - (Panlab)

Operant boxes
PACKWIN software

Reasons for choosing this test

Drug self-administered by the animal itself
Involves associative learning and operant conditioning
Robust performance and specific responses
Used for both rats and mice

Reasons for not choosing this test

Long and laborious procedure
Requires animal surgery
Changes in behavioral output can be brought by many cognitive and non-cognitive factors, such as alteration of learning, locomotor activity, vision...

Related human disease/applications

Drug screening
Phenotyping
Drug dependence
Alcohol dependence

Research areas

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More information

Panlab | Harvard Apparatus