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.

Agency
National Institute of Health (NIH)
Institute
National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA)
Type
Research Project (R01)
Project #
5R01AA018025-05
Application #
8316429
Study Section
Special Emphasis Panel (ZAA1-CC (02))
Program Officer
Grakalic, Ivana
Project Start
2008-09-30
Project End
2014-08-31
Budget Start
2012-09-01
Budget End
2014-08-31
Support Year
5
Fiscal Year
2012
Total Cost
$337,290
Indirect Cost
$135,078
Name
Ernest Gallo Clinic and Research Center
Department
Type
DUNS #
173995366
City
Emeryville
State
CA
Country
United States
Zip Code
94608
Corbit, Laura H; Janak, Patricia H (2016) Habitual Alcohol Seeking: Neural Bases and Possible Relations to Alcohol Use Disorders. Alcohol Clin Exp Res 40:1380-9
Corbit, Laura H; Fischbach, Sarah C; Janak, Patricia H (2016) Nucleus accumbens core and shell are differentially involved in general and outcome-specific forms of Pavlovian-instrumental transfer with alcohol and sucrose rewards. Eur J Neurosci 43:1229-36
Corbit, Laura H; Janak, Patricia H (2016) Changes in the Influence of Alcohol-Paired Stimuli on Alcohol Seeking across Extended Training. Front Psychiatry 7:169
Keiflin, Ronald; Janak, Patricia H (2015) Dopamine Prediction Errors in Reward Learning and Addiction: From Theory to Neural Circuitry. Neuron 88:247-63
Corbit, Laura H; Nie, Hong; Janak, Patricia H (2014) Habitual responding for alcohol depends upon both AMPA and D2 receptor signaling in the dorsolateral striatum. Front Behav Neurosci 8:301
Steinberg, Elizabeth E; Janak, Patricia H (2012) Establishing causality for dopamine in neural function and behavior with optogenetics. Brain Res :
Corbit, Laura H; Nie, Hong; Janak, Patricia H (2012) Habitual alcohol seeking: time course and the contribution of subregions of the dorsal striatum. Biol Psychiatry 72:389-95
Corbit, Laura H; Janak, Patricia H (2010) Posterior dorsomedial striatum is critical for both selective instrumental and Pavlovian reward learning. Eur J Neurosci 31:1312-21