At test, responding to the CS+ and CS− without EtOH was assessed in the alcohol-associated PDT context, the nonalcohol context or a novel context. The novel context consisted of the remaining context type that had not been utilized during either PDT or alternate, nonalcohol context exposure. Each rat was tested in each of the three conditions using a within-subjects Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical design, with one PDT session and three sessions of alternate-context exposure between tests. These additional sessions were conducted in order to minimize response decrements produced by experiencing the CS+ without ethanol at test. Experiment 3: Impact of context extinction on Pavlovian-conditioned alcohol-seeking behavior This

study investigated if the impact of the alcohol context on responding elicited by the CS+ was mediated by the capacity of the alcohol context to function as an excitatory Pavlovian-conditioned

stimulus. We predicted that extinguishing the context-alcohol association after PDT would diminish the influence of context on CS+ responding when both cues were subsequently tested Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical in PDT context. Rats (n = 24) received 15 PDT sessions where the CS+ was paired with 20% EtOH. Six rats were dropped because they failed Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical to acquire PDT (final http://www.selleckchem.com/products/E7080.html sample sizes: Context Type 1, n = 8; Context Type 2, n = 10). The remainder received eight sessions of exposure to the alcohol-associated PDT context (Group 1; n = 9) or to an alternate context (Group 2; n = 9). In both cases, the cues and EtOH Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical were withheld. At test, the CS+ and CS− were presented without alcohol in the PDT context (Test 1). A second,

identical test was conducted 10 days later to determine the impact of context extinction on spontaneous recovery of CS+ responding (spontaneous recovery test). Between tests, rats remained in their home cages and were handled regularly. Statistical analyses Dependent variables for PDT and test included: normalized CS+ and normalized Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical CS− responding (calculated by subtracting port entries during 10-sec intervals before each CS from port entries during the corresponding CS); post-CS+ responding (port entries during 10-sec intervals after each CS+); total port entries (number of port entries per session); and responding outside CS+ (total port entries minus CS+ responding). The number of port entries made during each CS+ trial at test was analyzed in blocks of two trials, yielding a total of 8 blocks. During exposure to the alternate-context or context-extinction Thymidine kinase sessions only total port entries were recorded. PDT data were analyzed using analysis of variance (ANOVA) with CS (CS+, CS−) and Session (as per number of sessions) as within-subject repeated-measures. Total port entries across PDT and total port entries during alternate-context exposure or context extinction were analyzed separately across the within-subject factor of Session (as per number of sessions).