The ventral and dorsal striatum are part of a neural network that is strongly implicated in the rewarding, reinforcing, and learning processes that occur with administration of addictive substances. The coordinated activation of dopamine and glutamate receptors within this system is thought to be a key mechanism by which these drugs (e.g., alcohol) produce their effects.
The aim of this proposal is to monitor extracellular dopamine and glutamate in the nucleus accumbens and dorsal striatum concurrently during associative learning and operant self-administration of alcohol, with dual probe microdialysis. In this procedure, rats will be trained to respond operantly using ethanol + sucrose, sucrose, or water reinforcement. The microdialysis test will occur very early in training, after the animals initially acquire the capacity for operant self-administration. These experiments will distinguish between appetitive and consummatory behaviors and the accompanying neuronal responses. The overall hypothesis is that extracellular dopamine and glutamate are elevated during operant learning and ethanol self-administration.

Agency
National Institute of Health (NIH)
Institute
National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA)
Type
Predoctoral Individual National Research Service Award (F31)
Project #
5F31AA014849-02
Application #
6963988
Study Section
Special Emphasis Panel (ZRG1-SCS (29))
Program Officer
Egli, Mark
Project Start
2004-06-01
Project End
2005-12-09
Budget Start
2005-06-01
Budget End
2005-12-09
Support Year
2
Fiscal Year
2005
Total Cost
$20,157
Indirect Cost
Name
University of Texas Austin
Department
Pharmacology
Type
Schools of Pharmacy
DUNS #
170230239
City
Austin
State
TX
Country
United States
Zip Code
78712
Doyon, William M; Howard, Elaina C; Shippenberg, Toni S et al. (2006) Kappa-opioid receptor modulation of accumbal dopamine concentration during operant ethanol self-administration. Neuropharmacology 51:487-96
Doyon, William M; Anders, Sheneil K; Ramachandra, Vorani S et al. (2005) Effect of operant self-administration of 10% ethanol plus 10% sucrose on dopamine and ethanol concentrations in the nucleus accumbens. J Neurochem 93:1469-81