Friend recollections, and a collection of collaborations with Nadia

Abstract

In this selective review article, we showcase our collaborations with our colleague, Dr. Nadia Chaudhri. Dr. Chaudhri was an esteemed colleague and researcher who contributed greatly to our understanding of Pavlovian alcohol conditioning. From 2014 to 2019, we collaborated with Nadia. Here, we reflect on our friendship, the work we did together, and the continued impact on the field.

Keywords: Nadia Chaudhri; Pavlovian conditioning; alcohol; extinction; retrieval + extinction.

FIGURE 1

Timeline of events throughout our friendship and collaboration with Nadia.

FIGURE 2

Summary of study on retrieval + extinction for conditioned alcohol cue reactivity. Rats were conditioned to pairings of light and alcohol. Following conditioning, rats received either a standard extinction session, in which the light cue was repeatedly presented in the absence of alcohol, or retrieval + extinction, in which an isolated light cue was presented prior to an extinction session. Following extinction, tests for relapse-like return of conditioned responses to cues previously paired with alcohol were conducted. Conditioned responding to cues previously paired with alcohol readily returned after the passage of time and in response to alcohol odor in the rats that had received standard extinction, but not those that received retrieval + extinction.

FIGURE 3

Summary of study characterizing conditioned alcohol cue reactivity. Rats were conditioned to light cues paired with alcohol. We analyzed sipper approach by scoring the rats’ sipper approach behavior before houselight illumination and during the illumination. We also analyzed the latency for the rats to start licking the sipper, and the lick rate across the sipper access window. We found that houselight illumination triggered conditioned approach to the sipper access site. We also found that sipper presentation elicited licking, even when no alcohol was present in the sipper and in the absence of alcohol odor in the air. We also found a strong increase in lick rate upon initial receipt of alcohol from the sipper, suggesting that receiving oral alcohol may, in and of itself, act as a cue that stimulates consummatory behavior (drinking). In additional analyses, we found rats with the greatest conditioned approach reactivity to the most distal alcohol cue (i.e., houselight illumination) also were the fastest to initiate drinking, and drank the most.