Striatal Mechanisms of Ethanol Seeking

描述（由申请人提供）：习惯性行为不需要明确的目标表征，而是由对先前与酒精奖励配对的刺激的自动反应触发的。这种转变的确切时间过程还没有被定义为酒精自我给药，然而，有明确的测试工具行为是目标导向的还是习惯性的，可以用来确定自我给药是否是习惯性的。目前的提议是为了验证一种假设，即长期训练后的酒精自我管理会显示出一种习惯性行为的特征。由于条件提示在复发中也起着重要作用，我们还将在长期酒精自我管理训练后测试酒精预测提示的效果。寻找酒精的依赖，包括由线索促进的依赖，将会被探究。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Habitual behavior does not require an explicit representation of the goal, but is triggered by automatic responses to the stimuli that previously were paired with alcohol reward. The exact time course of this transition has not been defined for alcohol self-administration, however, there are well-defined tests for whether instrumental behavior is goal-directed or habitual that can be used to determine whether or not self-administration is habitual. The current proposal seeks to test the hypothesis that alcohol self-administration after extended training will display the hallmarks of a habitual behavior. As conditioned cues also play a major role in relapse, we will also test the effects of alcohol-predictive cues after extended alcohol self-administration training. The reliance of alcohol-seeking, including that promoted by cues, on dorsal striatal circuitry will be probed. PUBLIC HEALTH RELEVANCE: It has long been hypothesized that alcohol- and drug-seeking becomes habitual over time; this is apparent in our colloquial use of the term `drug habit'. Therefore, understanding the transition of ethanol self-administration from goal-directed to habitual may provide information on the neurobiology that underlies the transition from casual ethanol use to addiction. These results will provide new information on the role of specific neural pathways in alcohol self-administration and increase our understanding of the behavioral mechanisms that underlie its intake. Therefore, these experiments will address an important lack in our basic knowledge of the neurobiology of alcohol addiction that will allow us to better design therapies for alcohol abuse.