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示，而是由对刺激的自动反应触发的，这些刺激以前与酒精奖励配对。这种转变的确切时间过程尚未定义为酒精自我管理，但是，有明确定义的测试工具行为是否是目标导向的或习惯性的，可以用来确定是否自我管理是习惯性的。目前的建议旨在测试这一假设，即酒精自我管理后，延长培训将显示出习惯性行为的标志。由于条件线索在复发中也起着重要作用，我们还将测试酒精预测线索在延长酒精自我管理训练后的效果。依赖酒精寻求，包括促进线索，背侧纹状体电路将被探测。 公共卫生相关性：长期以来，人们一直假设，随着时间的推移，酗酒和吸毒会成为习惯;这在我们对“吸毒习惯”一词的口语使用中很明显。因此，了解乙醇自我管理从目标导向到习惯性的转变可能会提供从偶然使用乙醇到成瘾转变的神经生物学信息。这些结果将提供关于特定神经通路在酒精自我管理中的作用的新信息，并增加我们对酒精摄入行为机制的理解。因此，这些实验将解决我们对酒精成瘾的神经生物学基础知识的重要缺乏，这将使我们能够更好地设计酒精滥用的治疗方法。

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.