ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses measurement of the efficacy and potency of a drug in terms of the acquisition and maintenance of self-administration. Animal models provide a means for rigorously addressing the role of genetics, environment and the interaction in substance use and misuse. With few exceptions, drugs that are misused by humans support the acquisition of the self-administration behaviour by laboratory animals. The acquisition of drug self-administration is determined primarily by the magnitude of the initial positive drug effect. The chapter provides information concerning the various manipulations and/or traits that have been shown to impact the latency to acquisition of drug self-administration. Those manipulations are pharmacological, environmental and genetic. Impulsivity in adolescence has been suggested to predispose to addiction to a variety of substances and to play a role in the progression of a substance use disorder. Sensation-seeking might be a trait that predisposes to the initial reinforcing effects of drugs of abuse.
