title: Involvement of the caudal granular insular cortex in alcohol self-administration in rats.
abstract: Animal models of substance abuse have established a role for the caudal granular insular cortex (CGIC) in drug taking behaviour for several addictive substances, yet nothing has thus far been reported for alcohol. The current research was undertaken to examine the involvement of the CGIC in a rat model of alcohol self-administration. We investigated the inactivating effects of local infusions of a γ-aminobutyric acid agonist mixture (baclofen/muscimol) into the CGIC on alcohol self-administration under a fixed ratio-3 (FR-3). This inactivation of the CGIC decreased operant responding for alcohol along with a corresponding decrease in oral alcohol intake. Our results demonstrate the involvement of the CGIC in alcohol taking behaviour and suggest future studies examine the differential involvement of the various subregions of the insular cortex in various aspects of alcohol consumption.
authors.affiliation: Translational Addiction Research Laboratory, Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ont., Canada.
authors.forename: Abhiram
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Pushparaj
authors.affiliation: Translational Addiction Research Laboratory, Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ont., Canada; Alcohol Research and Treatment Clinic, Addiction Medicine Services, Ambulatory Care and Structured Treatments, Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, Toronto, Ont., Canada; Campbell Family Mental Health Research Institute, Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, Toronto, Ont., Canada; Department of Family and Community Medicine, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ont., Canada; Department of Pharmacology, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ont., Canada; Department of Psychiatry, Division of Brain and Therapeutics, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ont., Canada; Institute of Medical Sciences, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ont., Canada. Electronic address: Bernard.lefoll@camh.ca.
authors.forename: Bernard
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Le Foll
mesh_terms: D000704:Analysis of Variance; D000818:Animals; D001418:Baclofen / Q000494:pharmacology; D002492:Central Nervous System Depressants / Q000008:administration & dosage*; D002540:Cerebral Cortex / Q000187:drug effects / Q000502:physiology*; D003216:Conditioning, Operant / Q000187:drug effects*; D000431:Ethanol / Q000008:administration & dosage*; D018755:GABA Agonists / Q000494:pharmacology; D008297:Male; D009118:Muscimol / Q000494:pharmacology; D051381:Rats; D020318:Rats, Long-Evans; D012055:Reinforcement Schedule; D012646:Self Administration
chemical_list: D002492:Central Nervous System Depressants; D018755:GABA Agonists; D009118:Muscimol; D000431:Ethanol; D001418:Baclofen
keywords: Alcohol; Caudal granular insular cortex; Rat; Self-administration