Expression of c-Fos in alko alcohol rats responding for ethanol in an operant paradigm

Adam Z. Weitemier, August Woerner, Pia Bäckström, Petri Hyytiä, Andrey E. Ryabinin

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

53 Scopus citations

Abstract

Background: Identification of the brain regions involved in ethanol administration is important for understanding the neurobiology of ethanol addiction. Animal studies with different brain mapping techniques found that voluntary ethanol self-administration leads to changes in activity of specific brain regions in patterns that only partially overlap with patterns of brain regions affected by involuntary (i.e., experimenter-administered) ethanol administration. As an extension of studies mapping changes in neural activity after voluntary ethanol drinking, this study analyzed expression of the inducible transcription factor c-Fos after ethanol consumption in an operant procedure. Methods: AA (Alko alcohol) rats were trained to operantly respond for water, 0.2% saccharin, 0.2% saccharin/10% (w/v) ethanol, or 10% ethanol in a 30-min limited-access procedure. Animals were allowed to self-administer solutions for at least 40 ethanol response sessions and were killed 1.5 hr after beginning of the last session. Forty-seven brain regions were immunohistochemically analyzed for c-Fos expression. Results: In this paradigm, ethanol dose-dependently increased c-Fos expression in the Edinger-Westphal nucleus (EW) and decreased expression in the dorsal tenia tecta compared with no-ethanol controls. No effects of saccharin on c-Fos expression were found. Conclusions: Our results extend previous findings of preferential sensitivity of EW to alcohol in voluntary self-administration procedures to operant responding for ethanol and warrant further investigation of ethanol's effects on the EW. The finding that ethanol attenuated c-Fos expression in the tenia tecta is novel. Taken together, these findings confirm that voluntary ethanol self-administration leads to changes in activity of a limited number of brain regions with previously unexamined roles in ethanol sensitivity and addiction.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)704-710
Number of pages7
JournalAlcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research
Volume25
Issue number5
DOIs
StatePublished - May 2001

Keywords

  • Alko Alcohol Rats
  • Edinger-Wesphal Nucleus
  • Immediate Early Gene
  • Self-Administration
  • Tenia Tecta

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Medicine (miscellaneous)
  • Toxicology
  • Psychiatry and Mental health

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