CO2 Reactivity but Not CO2‐Induced Orexin/c‐Fos Colocalization Differentially Predicts Alcohol‐Seeking Behaviour After Extinction and Retrieval‐Extinction in Rats

作者：M. Raskin, Marcelle Olvera, Kylee A Smith, R. Cofresí, J. Shumake, Michael J Telch, Michael W Otto, J. Smits, Rueben A. Gonzales, Hongjoo J. Lee, Marie H Monfils · 发表于：Addiction Biology · 年份：2026 · DOI：10.1111/adb.70116 · 研究领域：Medicine

Cues associated with alcohol consumption can trigger cravings, seeking behaviour and relapse after abstinence in individuals with alcohol use disorder (AUD). These conditioned responses can be attenuated through extinction learning, a core component of cue exposure therapy (CET). CET is effective in some individuals with AUD but not all, so it is necessary to develop strategies to identify and intervene with individuals unlikely to benefit from CET. Another method for attenuating conditioned responding is retrieval‐extinction, which renders the original associative memory labile via distinct neural mechanisms. We recently demonstrated that CO2 reactivity predicts extinction memory for both fear and food cues, and fear memory after retrieval‐extinction, and CO2‐induced orexin/c‐Fos colocalization predicts fear extinction memory. The purpose of the current study was to examine whether the predictive power of CO2 reactivity might extend to alcohol‐seeking behaviour after extinction or retrieval‐extinction in male and female rats. We also examined the relationship between CO2 reactivity, return of alcohol‐seeking behaviour and CO2‐induced orexin/c‐Fos colocalization. Male and female rats first underwent alcohol drinking induction in the homecage followed by dependence via exposure to chronic intermittent ethanol vapour or control air and homecage drinking. All rats then underwent Pavlovian alcohol conditioning followed by either standard extinction or retrieval‐extinction. They t...