Responding for food or drug-paired cues increases over the course of a period of abstinence and this may relate to an increased susceptibility to relapse behaviors. Here we detail a procedure for evaluating this "incubation of craving" in rats that have self-administered sucrose.
Grimm, J. W., Barnes, J., North, K., Collins, S., Weber, R. A General Method for Evaluating Incubation of Sucrose Craving in Rats. J. Vis. Exp. (57), e3335, doi:10.3791/3335 (2011).