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Neural Firing in the Prefrontal Cortex During Alcohol Intake in Alcohol‐Preferring “P” Versus Wistar Rats
Author(s) -
Linsenbardt David N.,
Lapish Christopher C.
Publication year - 2015
Publication title -
alcoholism: clinical and experimental research
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.267
H-Index - 153
eISSN - 1530-0277
pISSN - 0145-6008
DOI - 10.1111/acer.12804
Subject(s) - alcohol , prefrontal cortex , extinction (optical mineralogy) , ethanol , endocrinology , medicine , population , alcohol consumption , physiology , psychology , neuroscience , chemistry , biochemistry , cognition , mineralogy , environmental health
Background Neural activity within the prefrontal cortex ( PFC ) is altered by alcohol and alcohol‐associated stimuli and is mediated by genetic susceptibility to alcoholism. However, very little is known about how genetic risk of excessive drinking might mediate neural firing in the PFC during alcohol consumption. Methods To determine how genetic risk influences alcohol seeking, intake, and neural activity, a Pavlovian alcohol consumption task was used—the 2‐Way Cued Access Protocol (2 CAP ). Alcohol‐preferring “P” rats and relatives of their (heterogeneous) founding Wistar population were used for these studies. After acquisition of 2 CAP , extinction of responding for alcohol was evaluated by substituting water for alcohol. Following these experiments, in vivo electrophysiological recordings were obtained during 2 CAP from the PFC in a separate cohort of Wistar and P rats implanted with moveable tetrode microdrives. Results P and Wistar rats increased daily alcohol seeking and intake with P rats consuming roughly twice as much alcohol as Wistar. Both rat populations decreased seeking behavior during extinction. However, P rats displayed persistent increases in seeking after controlling for intake versus Wistar. Higher firing rates ( FR s) were observed in P rats prior to 2 CAP and throughout alcohol and water consumption compared with Wistars that were matched for alcohol‐drinking history. Differences in FR were driven, in part, by a larger percentage of neurons in P rats versus Wistars that increased FR compared with those that decreased, or did not change. Conclusions These data provide additional evidence of increased alcohol consumption and persistent alcohol seeking in P versus Wistar rats. Differences in PFC neural firing observed in P rats prior to drinking could be heritable and/or related to an enhanced response to alcohol‐associated contextual cues. FR differences observed during alcohol drinking might be related to an augmented sensitivity of PFC neurons to orally consumed alcohol.