Ethanol action on neural networks studied with multineuron recording in freely moving animals.
The advent of new chronic multineuron recording techniques for examining neural activity in behaving animals has initiated a new phase in the analysis of the neuronal mechanisms that underlie ethanol and other drug self-administration. The technique allows for the simultaneous recording of groups of individual neurons in one or more brain regions during ongoing behavior; therefore, the spatio-temporal patterns of neuronal activity during specific behavioral events can be determined. We have successfully applied this technique to rat models of cocaine and heroin self-administration. Recently, using rats, we have been able to record from neurons in areas of the mesocorticolimbic circuit during ethanol-reinforced operant responding. In this review, we describe the current and future application of this new behavioral neurophysiology to the investigation of the neurobiology of alcohol addiction.
Woodward
D J
DJ
Department of Physiology and Pharmacology, Wake Forest University, Winston-Salem, North Carolina, USA.
Janak
P H
PH
Chang
J Y
JY
D000437:Alcoholism / Q000503:physiopathology; D000818:Animals; D001931:Brain Mapping; D002540:Cerebral Cortex / Q000187:drug effects / Q000503:physiopathology; D000431:Ethanol / Q000494:pharmacology*; D008032:Limbic System / Q000187:drug effects / Q000503:physiopathology; D008636:Mesencephalon / Q000187:drug effects / Q000503:physiopathology; D009415:Nerve Net / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000503:physiopathology; D009474:Neurons / Q000187:drug effects / Q000502:physiology; D051381:Rats; D009435:Synaptic Transmission / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000502:physiology
D000431:Ethanol