The Conditioned Place Preference Model
Quantify context-driven behavioral responses to drug exposure
The conditioned place preference (CCP) model has been used for decades to evaluate a drug’s abuse liability and its potential to treat substance use disorder (SUD). In this paradigm, animals learn to associate a specific environment with drug exposure, and preference for that environment is later measured as an indicator of reward.
A Behavioral Model with Decades of Use in Addiction Research
Conditioned place preference originated from early place-conditioning studies in the mid-20th century and was formalized in the 1970s as researchers began pairing drug exposure with distinct environments to measure learned behavioral responses.
Our conditioned place preference model builds on this well-established paradigm using a biased, two-chamber design in rats to generate clear, reproducible behavioral readouts. This approach enables sensitive detection of both rewarding and aversive effects across a range of compounds, including opioids, supporting early assessment of abuse liability in preclinical development.
In addition to its classical use, the conditioned place preference model is increasingly applied to evaluate therapies for SUD. By measuring whether a test article reduces or blocks drug-induced preference, researchers can assess its potential to modulate drug-seeking behavior.
Melior offers optional locomotor activity tracking during conditioning and test sessions, which provides additional context, helping distinguish true reward-driven effects from stimulant or sedative influences and strengthening overall data interpretation.
Advantages of the Conditioned Place Preference Model
- Generate robust behavioral readouts of drug reward and aversion
- Collect locomotor activity during conditioning and test sessions to support data interpretation
- Compare opioid-induced CPP across compounds to assess relative abuse liability
- Timelines as short as 2 weeks to complete typical opioid CPP in-life studies
Ready to get started or looking for a custom model?
We offer customizable conditioned place preference model studies, with flexible conditioning timelines, protocols, compound classes, and endpoints tailored to your research goals.
Figure 1. Expression of Conditioned Place Preference (CPP) on Day 10 (test day). Animals were trained to test compounds for 4 days. On the test day, no compounds were administered. The figure represents the percent of time spent in the drug-paired chamber versus the saline-paired chamber. Saline or Naltrexone (1, 3, or 10mpk) was administered 30 minutes prior to saline or morphine (5mpk) administration on conditioning days.
Figure 2. Expression of Conditioned Place Preference (CPP) on Day 10 (test day). Animals were trained to test compounds for 4 days. On the test day, no compounds were administered. The figure represents the percent of time spent in the drug-paired chamber versus the saline-paired chamber. Saline or Naltrexone (3mpk) was administered 30 minutes prior to saline or oxycodone (3mpk) administration on conditioning days.
Publications
Ma K, Pham T, Wang J, O-Sullivan I, DiCamillo A, Du S, Mwale F, Farooqui Z, Votta-Velis G, Bruce B, van Wijnen AJ, Liu Y, Im HJ. Nanoparticle-based inhibition of vascular endothelial growth factor receptors alleviates osteoarthritis pain and cartilage damage. Sci Adv. 2024 Feb 16;10(7):eadi5501. doi: 10.1126/sciadv.adi5501. Epub 2024 Feb 14. PMID: 38354243; PMCID: PMC10866538.
Frequently Asked Questions
Conditioned place preference (CPP) is a behavioral assay used to evaluate how animals associate a specific environment with drug exposure. It measures whether a compound produces rewarding or aversive effects by assessing the amount of time an animal spends in a drug-paired environment. CPP is widely used to assess abuse liability and to evaluate compounds that may reduce drug-associated preference in substance use disorder (SUD) research.
In CPP studies, “conditioning preference” refers to the learned association between a drug’s effects and a specific environment. During conditioning, animals are exposed to a compound in one chamber and a control condition in another. If the compound is rewarding, animals will later spend more time in the drug-paired chamber, indicating a conditioned preference.
While the conditioned place preference model is a well-established tool for assessing reward-related behavior, it does not measure active drug-taking or reinforcement directly, as seen in self-administration models. Results can also be influenced by factors such as locomotor effects or initial chamber bias, which is why additional data, such as locomotor activity, can be useful for interpretation.
Despite these limitations, CPP remains a valuable and widely used approach for evaluating abuse liability and substance use disorder mechanisms.
Citations
Rossi, N.A., Reid, L.D. Affective states associated with morphine injections. Psychobiology 4, 269–274 (1976). https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03332869