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Physical Dependence and Withdrawal in Planarians

This chapter appears in the following book:

Planaria: A Model for Drug Action
and Abuse

Edited by: Robert B. Raffa and Scott M. Rawls
ISBN: TBA
» Get more information about this book at landesbioscience.com «

Chapter authors:
Robert B. Raffa


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A quantifiable feature of drug abuse in animal models is the development of physical dependence and its expression during withdrawal (either abstinence‑ or antagonist‑induced). Withdrawal has sometimes been proposed to be important to understanding drug ‘craving’. Planarians are a convenient model for the study of physical dependence and withdrawal. Physical dependence develops rapidly in planarians and planarians display a withdrawal syndrome that consists of atypical behaviors that are not observed during normal planarian activity (see Chapter 8). Withdrawal is often more easily and reproducibly demonstrated in planarians than in mammals for substances that display mild withdrawal in mammals. It is also more convenient to study and rigorously quantify withdrawal from multiple drugs in combination (as discussed in Chapter 10). The pharmacology of planarians appears to be quite similar to that of mammals—with minor exceptions that are indicative of more primitive receptor or 2nd‑messenger transduction systems.

Robert B. Raffa
Temple University School of Pharmacy

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