Kay Tye, Reesha Patel, Makenzie Patarino, Kelly Kim, Rachelle Pamintuan, Felix Taschbach, Hao Li, Christopher Lee, Aniek Hoek, Rogelio Castro, Christian Cazares, Raymundo Miranda, Caroline Jia, Jeremy Delahanty, Kanha Batra, Laurel Keyes, Avraham Libster, Romy Wichmann, Talmo Pereira, Marcus Benna
How do social factors impact the brain and contribute to increased alcohol drinking? We found that social rank predicts alcohol drinking, where subordinates drink more than dominants. Furthermore, social isolation escalates alcohol drinking, particularly impacting subordinates who display a greater increase in alcohol drinking compared to dominants. Using cellular resolution calcium imaging, we show that the basolateral amygdala-medial prefrontal cortex (BLA-mPFC) circuit predicts alcohol drinking in a rank-dependent manner, unlike non-specific BLA activity...
March 21, 2024: Research Square