Craving and binge drinking are behaviors in alcoholism that are thought to be mediated in part by neuroadaptations in brain regions related to reward and motivation. Locomotor sensitization is an increased response to repeated doses of a drug and this behavior has been shown to involve gene expression changes in these same brain regions. Therefore, the long-term goal of this proposal is to identify potential molecular mechanisms underlying behaviors related to alcoholism by microarray analysis of reward-related brain regions in mice sensitized to ethanol. This will be accomplished by fulfilling two specific aims.
Specific Aim 1 : Characterize gene expression changes both during acute ethanol responses and at basal levels in mice sensitized to ethanol. Mice will receive daily injections of saline, ethanol for two weeks with locomotor activation recorded on days three and fourteen. Mice will be sacrificed four hours or several days after the final treatment for array analysis to compare acute expression changes to basal-level changes.
Specific Aim 2 : Further correlate expression changes with behavior using mouse strains differing in sensitization development.

Agency
National Institute of Health (NIH)
Institute
National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA)
Type
Individual Predoctoral NRSA for M.D./Ph.D. Fellowships (ADAMHA) (F30)
Project #
5F30AA015481-02
Application #
7050136
Study Section
Special Emphasis Panel (ZAA1-EE (20))
Program Officer
Neuhold, Lisa
Project Start
2004-09-25
Project End
2008-09-24
Budget Start
2005-09-25
Budget End
2006-09-24
Support Year
2
Fiscal Year
2005
Total Cost
$31,596
Indirect Cost
Name
Virginia Commonwealth University
Department
Pharmacology
Type
Schools of Medicine
DUNS #
105300446
City
Richmond
State
VA
Country
United States
Zip Code
23298