Regional brain [Met]-enkephalin in alcohol-preferring and non-alcohol-preferring inbred strains of mice.
Scrutiny of the data from these studies reveals that the C58/J alcohol-preferring mice have significantly lower baseline methionine-enkephalin levels in both the corpus striatum and hypothalamus compared to C3H/CHRGL/2 non-alcohol-preferring mice. In other brain regions in these two strains, specifically, pituitary, amygdala, midbrain, and hippocampus, analysis of methionine-enkephalin levels did not show any significant differences. This suggests that the hypothalamus may indeed be a specific locus involved in the regulation of alcohol intake, via the molecular interaction between neuroamines, opioid peptides, as they are influenced by genetics and environment.
D000428:Alcohol Drinking / Q000502:physiology*; D000818:Animals; D001921:Brain / Q000378:metabolism*; D003342:Corpus Striatum / Q000378:metabolism; D004744:Enkephalin, Methionine / Q000378:metabolism*; D007031:Hypothalamus / Q000378:metabolism; D008297:Male; D051379:Mice; D008809:Mice, Inbred C3H; D008815:Mice, Inbred Strains
D004744:Enkephalin, Methionine