Advances in behavioral animal models of alcohol use disorder

Alcohol use disorder (AUD) is a multifaceted neuropsychiatric disease that combines behavioral, psychosocial, and neurobiological aspects. Over the previous decade, animal models have advanced in modeling the major psychological constructs that characterize AUD. These advances pave the road for more sophisticated behavioral models that capture addiction-related aspects, such as alcohol craving, compulsive seeking and intake, dependence, and relapse. In this review, we survey the recent progress in behavioral animal modeling of five aspects of AUD: alcohol consumption, dependence, and seeking; compulsivity in alcohol intake despite adverse outcomes; vulnerability and resilience factors in alcohol addiction; relapse despite treatment; and relapse prevention by manipulating alcohol-associated memory reconsolidation. These advances represent a general attempt to grasp the complexity and multidimensional nature of AUD, and to focus on behavioral characteristics that better reflect and model this disorder. •Modeling the complexity of alcohol use disorder requires compilation of different behavioral animal models.•New procedures of alcohol consumption and seeking model voluntary dependence and persistent craving and seeking.•Procedures of compulsive-like alcohol-related behaviors provide an important characteristic of alcohol addiction.•Individual differences in vulnerability and resilience to alcohol addiction should be better characterized.•Modeling alcohol relapse and its prevention opens a critical translational window for treatment development.