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Corticotropin‐Releasing Factor Is Altered in Brains of Animals with High Preference for Ethanol
Author(s) -
George Susan R.,
Fan Teresa,
Roldan Luis,
Naranjo Claudio A.
Publication year - 1990
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/j.1530-0277.1990.tb00499.x
Subject(s) - median eminence , medicine , endocrinology , ethanol , cerebellum , medulla , midbrain , pons , thalamus , hypothalamus , chemistry , cortex (anatomy) , central nervous system , neuroscience , psychology , biology , biochemistry
Ethanol administered to rats has been shown to stimulate the hypothalamic‐pituitary‐adrenal axis. The present study describes alterations in brain CRF neuronal systems that accompanied the voluntary high consumption of ethanol by Wistar rats presented with a free choice between 6% ethanol and tap water. Hypothalamic CRF concentrations (outside median eminence) were significantly increased in animals with a high preference for ethanol whereas concentrations of CRF in neurointermediate pituitary and medullapons were significantly decreased. No changes of CRF levels were evident in median eminence, frontal cortex, midbrain, thalamus, or cerebellum. Brain CRF concentrations in two strains of mice with genetically determined differential alcohol preference were measured. In ethanol‐naive mice, there were documented differences in CRF concentrations, with an increase in frontal cortex levels, and a decrease in medulla‐pons levels in the ethanol‐preferring strain (C57BL/6J) compared to the nonpreferring strain (C3H/CRGL/2). Thus, certain brain CRF neuronal systems are preferentially affected by high ethanol consumption, and pre‐existing differences in these systems may even contribute to the development of a high preference for ethanol.