Understanding the neurobiological mechanisms that underlie alcoholism may offer insights into developing new and more effective theraputic strategies. Animal models of alcoholism have been used to investigate hallmark behaviors of drug-taking and drug-seeking. Although the neural substrates underlying ethanol taking behavior have begun to be elucidated, the brain systems involved in ethanol-seeking behavior remain largely unknown. Drug-seeking behavior may be elicited by exposure to environmental cues associated with the rewarding properties of alcohol. The conditioned place preference (CPP) procedure offers a measure of ethanol's conditioned rewarding effects by examining preferences for cues previously associated with ethanol. The proposed project seeks to further identify neural mechanisms involved in the expression of ethanols conditioned rewarding properties as assessed by the CPP procedure. While dopamine has been implicated in ethanol's direct rewarding effects, this proposal will investigate the role of dopamine in the conditioned rewarding effects of ethanol. Specifically, the role of and modulation of dopamine in the nucleus accumbens and prefrontal cortex on the expression of ethanol place preference will be examined.
