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Alcohol Self‐Administration: Role of Mesolimbic Dopamine a
Author(s) -
SAMSON HERMAN H.,
TOLLIVER GERALD A.,
HARAGUCHI MIKI,
HODGE CLYDE W.
Publication year - 1992
Publication title -
annals of the new york academy of sciences
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.712
H-Index - 248
eISSN - 1749-6632
pISSN - 0077-8923
DOI - 10.1111/j.1749-6632.1992.tb25971.x
Subject(s) - alcohol abuse , substance abuse , library science , medicine , psychiatry , computer science
It appears clear that ethanol reinforcement, like that of many abused drugs, utilizes the mesolimbic DA pathways. From the data presented on microinjection of DA agonists and antagonists, it would seem that only part of the regulatory process controlling ethanol drinking is directly involved with this pathway. Once drinking has begun, the DA antagonist raclopride results in a rapid termination of drinking. This appears to be a blocking effect of what may be conditioned reinforcement resulting from prior ethanol reinforcement initiation procedures. Microinjection of the DA agonists d-amphetamine and quinpirole prolonged drinking, with little signs of normal termination apparent in the 30-min session in many animals. This appeared to be the result of interference with normal termination processes. While it remains to be demonstrated that oral ethanol consumption results in the release of DA in the nucleus accumbens, evidence from prior work and the present studies support a role for the mesolimbic DA system in ethanol reinforcement.