Leandro F Vendruscolo, Estelle Barbier, Joel E Schlosburg, Kaushik K Misra, Timothy W Whitfield, Marian L Logrip, Catherine Rivier, Vez Repunte-Canonigo, Eric P Zorrilla, Pietro P Sanna, Markus Heilig, George F Koob
Alcoholism is characterized by a compulsion to seek and ingest alcohol, loss of control over intake, and the emergence of a negative emotional state during abstinence. We hypothesized that sustained activation of neuroendocrine stress systems (e.g., corticosteroid release via the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis) by alcohol intoxication and withdrawal and consequent alterations in glucocorticoid receptor (GR) and mineralocorticoid receptor (MR) activation drive compulsive alcohol drinking. Our results showed that rats exposed to alcohol vapor to the point of dependence displayed increased alcohol intake, compulsive drinking measured by progressive-ratio responding, and persistent alcohol consumption despite punishment, assessed by adding quinine to the alcohol solution, compared with control rats that were not exposed to alcohol vapor...
May 30, 2012: Journal of Neuroscience