STN manipulations have therapeutic effects after cocaine escalation. a Summary time graph presenting the effect of STN lesion, performed after escalation, on the total cocaine intake during ten LgA sessions following the surgery recovery period (10-day abstinence). Both groups (sham group: n = 5, white dots; STN lesion group: n = 5, blue dots) display comparable cocaine intake during escalation (session effect F19,152 = 4.084, P < 0.0001, session × group interaction F19,152 = 0.8126, n.s., mixed two-way ANOVA). Although not significant, STN lesion tends to reduce cocaine re-escalation observed in sham control animals after abstinence (session effect: F9,72 = 3.083, P < 0.01; group effect: F1,72 = 4.762, P = 0.06, mixed two-way ANOVA). b Summary bar graph showing the cocaine intake during the first 2 h of each session averaged per blocks of five ShA (block 1), four blocks of five pre-surgical LgA (blocks 2–5) and two blocks of five post-surgical re-escalation LgA (blocks 6–7) sessions. Both groups escalate their cocaine intake before surgery (block effect F4,32 = 24.27, P < 0.0001; group effect F1,32 = 0.07691, n.s., mixed two-way ANOVA). Again, STN lesion tends to reduce cocaine re-escalation after abstinence (block effect: F1,8 = 6.564, P < 0.05, group effect: F1,8 = 3.756, P = 0.08, mixed two-way ANOVA). c Summary time graph showing the effect of STN–HFS on the total cocaine intake during ten LgA sessions following a 35-day period of protracted abstinence (OFF group: n = 6, white dots; ON group: n = 4, red dots). While both groups display comparable intake during escalation (session effect: F14,112 = 2.861, P = 0.01; group effect: F1,112 = 0.1888, n. s., mixed two-way ANOVA), STN–HFS reduces the re-escalation of cocaine escalation (session effect: F9,72 = 2,546, P < 0.05, group effect: F1,72 = 10.01, P < 0.05, mixed two-way ANOVA). d Summary bar graph, averaging the first 2 h of each session per blocks of five ShA (Block 1), three LgA of pre-HFS LgA (Blocks 2–4) and two blocks of five HFS LgA sessions, shows that STN DBS also reduces the cocaine re-escalation (block effect: F1,8 = 7.086, P < 0.05, group effect: F1,8 = 9.186, P < 0.05, mixed two-way ANOVA). All data are means with SEM. **P < 0.01, ***P < 0.001 vs. ShA (block 1); $P < 0.05 vs. first block of re-escalation, #P < 0.05 vs. OFF group (Bonferroni post hoc test)