1. Voluntary adolescent drinking enhances excitation by low levels of alcohol in a subset of dopaminergic neurons in the ventral tegmental area.
- Author
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Avegno EM, Salling MC, Borgkvist A, Mrejeru A, Whitebirch AC, Margolis EB, Sulzer D, and Harrison NL
- Subjects
- Action Potentials drug effects, Alcohol Drinking pathology, Alcohol Drinking physiopathology, Animals, Binge Drinking pathology, Choice Behavior, Disease Models, Animal, Dopaminergic Neurons pathology, Dopaminergic Neurons physiology, Dose-Response Relationship, Drug, Green Fluorescent Proteins genetics, Green Fluorescent Proteins metabolism, Male, Mice, Inbred C57BL, Mice, Transgenic, Substance Withdrawal Syndrome pathology, Substance Withdrawal Syndrome physiopathology, Tyrosine 3-Monooxygenase genetics, Tyrosine 3-Monooxygenase metabolism, Ventral Tegmental Area pathology, Ventral Tegmental Area physiopathology, Volition, Binge Drinking physiopathology, Central Nervous System Depressants toxicity, Dopaminergic Neurons drug effects, Ethanol toxicity, Ventral Tegmental Area drug effects, Ventral Tegmental Area growth & development
- Abstract
Enhanced dopamine (DA) neurotransmission from the ventral tegmental area (VTA) to the ventral striatum is thought to drive drug self-administration and mediate positive reinforcement. We examined neuronal firing rates in slices of mouse midbrain following adolescent binge-like alcohol drinking and find that prior alcohol experience greatly enhanced the sensitivity to excitation by ethanol itself (10-50 mM) in a subset of ventral midbrain DA neurons located in the medial VTA. This enhanced response after drinking was not associated with alterations of firing rate or other measures of intrinsic excitability. In addition, the phenomenon appears to be specific to adolescent drinking, as mice that established a drinking preference only after the onset of adulthood showed no change in alcohol sensitivity. Here we demonstrate not only that drinking during adolescence induces enhanced alcohol sensitivity, but also that this DA neuronal response occurs over a range of alcohol concentrations associated with social drinking in humans., (Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)
- Published
- 2016
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