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Disentangling the Role of Astrocytes in Alcohol Use Disorder
Author(s) -
Adermark Louise,
Bowers M. Scott
Publication year - 2016
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.13168
Subject(s) - astrocyte , neuroscience , alcohol use disorder , glutamate receptor , addiction , psychology , homeostasis , biology , alcohol , medicine , central nervous system , microbiology and biotechnology , biochemistry , receptor
Several laboratories recently identified that astrocytes are critical regulators of addiction machinery. It is now known that astrocyte pathology is a common feature of ethanol (EtOH) exposure in both humans and animal models, as even brief EtOH exposure is sufficient to elicit long‐lasting perturbations in astrocyte gene expression, activity, and proliferation. Astrocytes were also recently shown to modulate the motivational properties of EtOH and other strongly reinforcing stimuli. Given the role of astrocytes in regulating glutamate homeostasis, a crucial component of alcohol use disorder (AUD), astrocytes might be an important target for the development of next‐generation alcoholism treatments. This review will outline some of the more prominent features displayed by astrocytes, how these properties are influenced by acute and long‐term EtOH exposure, and future directions that may help to disentangle astrocytic from neuronal functions in the etiology of AUD.