The understanding of how ethanol's reinforcing properties function within the central nervous system has been considered as a potential key to the development of new and more effective pharmacotherapeutic interventions for alcohol abuse and alcoholism. In this exploratory/developmental grant, the use of In Vivo voltammetry will be implemented to examine the role of the mesolimbic dopamine system to ethanol reinforcement, in rats who are orally self-administrating ethanol. The main goal of this project is to develop the voltammetry technique in animals that have been initiated to selfadminister ethanol in an operant paradigm. To accomplish these ends, several technical aspects of applying the voltammetry technique to non-anesthetized animals will have to be integrated into the PI's laboratory. While there are no apparent major technical obstacles, the application of voltammetry in this manner is in its early stages of development in the field of neurosciences. However, the potential abilities of this technique to provide critical new information about how the mesolimbic dopamine system may be involved in the regulation of ethanol consumption makes the development of this specific application most appropriate to the goals of this program announcement.
| Samson, H H; Hodge, C W; Erickson, H L et al. (1997) The effects of local application of ethanol in the n. accumbens on dopamine overflow and clearance. Alcohol 14:485-92 |
