HYPOTHALAMIC MODULATION OF ALCOHOL SEEKING BEHAVIOR

描述：酒精滥用和酒精中毒是主要的健康问题， 我们的社会每年损失无数的生命和数十亿美元。 了解酒精是如何控制个人行为的 关键在于制定有效的治疗方案。 我们的研究计划 开始识别特定的大脑区域，以及这些区域中的化学物质， 参与调节一个人的饮酒量。 大脑中被称为下丘脑的区域控制着大部分的 身体的调节过程，如进食、饮水和交配。 为 例如，已经表明，直接注射神经递质 去甲肾上腺素进入这个区域会增加碳水化合物的摄入， 肥胖（血清素具有相反的作用）。 肥胖症，比如 酒精中毒是指对某种物质的过度消费。 因此 这些研究的假设是，酒精可能导致过量摄入 是自然的进食和饮水机制， 导致失去控制。 操作性自我给药技术被认为是 最有效的饮酒行为指标 与CNS联合使用时 显微注射技术，特定脑区和受体的作用 系统可以被描述。 提出了三个具体目标， 描述下丘脑调节系统参与 酗酒行为 具体目标我将描述的作用 去甲肾上腺素能受体位于室旁核（PVN）的 下丘脑对酒精和蔗糖强化反应的调节。 这些 研究将在乙醇经验和乙醇-幼稚大鼠中进行， 将测试酒精经验是否会改变PVN的功能， 调节碳水化合物的摄入以控制酒精寻求 行为 具体目标2将测试血清素受体的作用， 具体目标3将测试阿片受体的影响， 行为程序 这些研究将探讨在何种程度上， PVN的主要功能可以作为酒精的功能而改变 体验. 这些研究的结果将有助于阐明 自我平衡的大脑系统，如下丘脑，可能会参与 酗酒行为

DESCRIPTION: Alcohol abuse and alcoholism are major health problems that cost our society numerous lives and billions of dollars each year. Understanding how alcohol can come to control an individual's behavior is key to the development of effective treatment. Our research program has begun to identify specific brain regions, and chemicals in these regions, that are involved in regulating how much alcohol an individual will consume. The region of the brain known as the hypothalamus controls most of the body's regulatory processes, such as feeding, drinking, and mating. For instance, it has been shown that direct injections of the neurotransmitter noradrenaline into this area will increase carbohydrate intake and result in obesity (serotonin has the opposite effect) in rats. Obesity, like alcoholism, involves the excessive consumption of a substance. Thus, the hypothesis of these studies is that alcohol may result in excessive intake by usurping the brain is natural feeding and drinking mechanisms which can result in a loss of control. The operant self-administration technique is considered to be one of the most valid measures of alcohol-seeking behavior. When combined with CNS microinjection techniques, the role of specific brain regions and receptor systems can be characterized. Three specific aims are proposed to characterize the involvement of hypothalamic regulatory systems in alcohol-seeking behavior. Specific Aim I will characterize the role of noradrenergic receptors located in the paraventricular nucleus (PVN) of the hypothalamus in regulating alcohol and sucrose reinforced responding. These studies will be conducted in ethanol-experienced and ethanol-naive rats and will test whether alcohol experience shifts the function of the PVN from regulation of carbohydrate intake to the control of alcohol seeking behavior. Specific Aim 2 will test the role of serotonin receptors, and Specific Aim 3 will test the influence of opiate receptors, in the same behavioral procedures. These studies will examine the degree to which the primary function of the PVN may be altered as a function of alcohol experience. The results from these studies will help clarify how homeostatic brain systems, such as the hypothalamus, may become involved in alcohol-seeking behavior.