Relapse to
drug seeking after prolonged abstinence is a major problem in the clinical treatment of
drug addiction. The use of pharmacological interventions to disrupt established
drug reward memories is a promising strategy for the treatment of
drug addiction. A
growth hormone secretagogue receptor 1 A antagonist,
JMV2959, has been shown to reduce
morphine-induced conditioned place preference (
CPP) in rats within hours of intervention; thus,
JMV2959 is a potential candidate for
drug addiction treatment. However, the effect of
JMV2959 on reconsolidation to disrupt
drug seeking remains unknown. In this study, we assessed the effect of
JMV2959 on
morphine induced memory reconsolidation to inhibit
drug seeking after
drug withdrawal. Our results showed that the administration of
JMV2959 (6 mg/kg) significantly reduced environmental cue induced
CPP, which suggested a preventive effect of
JMV2959 on
morphine induced memory reconsolidation. Additionally,
JMV2959 administration significantly altered the locomotor activity and food and water intake but did not significantly alter the natural reward preference. We concluded that
JMV2959 may be an effective candidate to treat
drug addiction.