Patent ID: 8119854

Claim:
An animal model system for screening compound(s) for use in decreasing craving for an addictive drug in a mammal comprising: (a) Providing a syndecan-3 knockout mouse; (b) Providing a mouse of the same species as said syndecan-3 knockout mouse that is not itself a syndecan-3 knockout mouse and is transgenic for whole (full-length) syndecan-1 or syndecan-1 ectodomain, and; (c) Allowing said mice of (a) and (b) to self-administer an addictive drug; (d) Administering to said mice (a) and (b) a compound; and (e) Observing a decrease in the frequency of self-administration or decrease in at least one indices of motivation for the drug in said mouse of (a) relative to mouse of (b), following administration of said compound, Wherein compounds associated with a decrease in self-administration or a decrease in one or more indices of motivation, or craving for an addictive drug are identified.