Acronyms that contain the term self-administration 

Self-administration

Self-administration is, in its medical sense, the process of a subject administering a pharmacological substance to him-, her-, or itself. A clinical example of this is the subcutaneous "self-injection" of insulin by a diabetic patient. In animal experimentation, self-administration is a form of operant conditioning where the reward is a drug. This drug can be administered remotely through an implanted intravenous line or an intracerebroventricular injection. Self-administration of putatively addictive drugs is considered one of the most valid experimental models to investigate drug-seeking and drug-taking behavior. The higher the frequency with which a test animal emits the operant behavior, the more rewarding, the test substance is considered. Self-administration of addictive drugs has been studied using humans, non-human primates, mice., and, most commonly, rats. Self-administration of heroin and cocaine is used to screen drugs for possible effects in reducing drug-taking behavior, especially reinstatement of drug seeking after extinction. Drugs with this effect may be useful for treating people with drug addiction by helping them establish abstinence or reducing their probability or relapsing to drug use after a period of abstinence.

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