Rodent Testing to Identify Pharmacotherapies for Substance Dependence

The abuse of, and dependence on, a variety of substances remains a significant public health concern. Currently no approved pharmacotherapies exist to treat individuals dependent on cocaine, methamphetamine, or Tetrahydrocannabinol (THC). Thus, the preclinical evaluation of potential pharmacotherapies for substance abuse is a critical component in NIDA's effort at addressing this public health problem. One of the best-established approaches for identifying and developing a potential treatment for drug abuse is to evaluate the compound for its pharmacological activities alone and its ability to alter the effects of the abused drug. Such an approach allows one to understand the potential utility of a compound, allowing rational selection of lead candidate compounds that warrant further testing and development, from among a wide variety of drugs. This approach has been employed routinely and successfully by the pharmaceutical industry as a means of identifying and evaluating compounds for potential therapeutic utility in treating other diseases, including central nervous system indications. The NIDA/Division of Pharmacotherapies and Medical Consequences of Drug Abuse (DPMCDA)/Addiction Treatment Discovery Program (ATDP) utilizes preclinical (animal) models to predict clinical efficacy of test compounds. The in vivo assays include mouse locomotor activity, rat drug discrimination, rat standard conditioned place preference, mouse stress-induced potentiation of conditioned place preference, and rat self-administration (all to be supported by this contract), rat relapse model, and primate drug discrimination and self-administration.