TITLE:
Test of the Popular Benzodiazepine Alprazolam in a Positive Conditioned Place-Preference Model in Female Rats
AUTHORS:
Cheyenne Moffett, Katherine J. Kost, Austen Thompson, Michael H. Ossipov, Joseph V. Pergolizzi Jr., Sumiyo Umeda-Raffa, Robert B. Raffa, Tally M. Largent-Milnes, Todd Vanderah
KEYWORDS:
Benzodiazepine, Conditioned Placepreference, Alprazolam, Female Rats
JOURNAL NAME:
Pharmacology & Pharmacy,
Vol.12 No.5,
May
31,
2021
ABSTRACT: The benzodiazepines were introduced into medical practice during the 1960s. At the time, they represented a safer alternative to extant therapies used for anxiety, such as the barbiturates. However, on September 23, 2020, the United States FDA indicated that more is needed to be known about the initiation, continuation, and discontinuation of the use of these widely-used drugs with publication of the announcement “to address the serious risks of abuse, addiction, physical dependence, and withdrawal reactions, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is requiring the Boxed Warning be updated for all benzodiazepine medicines.” Because for many years, there has been a sparsity of research on these drugs, relevant information is unfortunately lacking at this critical time. It is therefore valuable to (re)establish animal models and begin to collect relevant data. We here use a model of conditioned place preference (CPP) which suggests that the representative benzodiazepine alprazolam induces positive place preference in female rats.