title: Dopaminergic neurotransmission in ventral and dorsal striatum differentially modulates alcohol reinforcement.
abstract: Dopaminergic neurotransmission in the striatum has been widely implicated in the reinforcing properties of substances of abuse. However, the striatum is functionally heterogeneous, and previous work has mostly focused on psychostimulant drugs. Therefore, we investigated how dopamine within striatal subregions modulates alcohol-directed behaviour in rats. We assessed the effects of infusion of the dopamine receptor antagonist alpha-flupenthixol into the shell and core of the nucleus accumbens (NAcc) and the dorsolateral striatum (DLS) on responding for alcohol under fixed ratio 1 (FR1) and progressive ratio (PR) schedules of reinforcement. Bilateral infusion of alpha-flupenthixol into the NAcc shell reduced responding for alcohol under both the FR1 (15 μg/side) and the PR schedule (3.75-15 μg/side) of reinforcement. Infusion of alpha-flupenthixol into the NAcc core (7.5-15 μg/side) also decreased responding for alcohol under both schedules. By contrast, alpha-flupenthixol infusion into the DLS did not affect FR1 responding, but reduced responding under the PR schedule (15 μg/side). The decreases in responding were related to earlier termination of responding during the session, whereas the onset and rate of responding remained largely unaffected. Together, these data suggest that dopamine in the NAcc shell is involved in the incentive motivation for alcohol, whereas DLS dopamine comes into play when obtaining alcohol requires high levels of effort. In contrast, NAcc core dopamine appears to play a more general role in alcohol reinforcement. In conclusion, dopaminergic neurotransmission acts in concert in subregions of the striatum to modulate different aspects of alcohol-directed behaviour.
authors: Department of Animals in Science and Society, Division of Behavioural Neuroscience, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Utrecht University, Yalelaan 2, 3584 CM, Utrecht, The Netherlands.
authors: Marcia
authors: M
authors: Spoelder
authors: Department of Animals in Science and Society, Division of Behavioural Neuroscience, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Utrecht University, Yalelaan 2, 3584 CM, Utrecht, The Netherlands.
authors: Peter
authors: P
authors: Hesseling
authors: Department of Animals in Science and Society, Division of Behavioural Neuroscience, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Utrecht University, Yalelaan 2, 3584 CM, Utrecht, The Netherlands.
authors: Matthew
authors: M
authors: Styles
authors: Department of Animals in Science and Society, Division of Behavioural Neuroscience, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Utrecht University, Yalelaan 2, 3584 CM, Utrecht, The Netherlands.
authors: Annemarie M
authors: AM
authors: Baars
authors: Department of Animals in Science and Society, Division of Behavioural Neuroscience, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Utrecht University, Yalelaan 2, 3584 CM, Utrecht, The Netherlands.
authors: José G
authors: JG
authors: Lozeman-van 't Klooster
authors: Department of Animals in Science and Society, Division of Behavioural Neuroscience, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Utrecht University, Yalelaan 2, 3584 CM, Utrecht, The Netherlands.
authors: Heidi M B
authors: HM
authors: Lesscher
authors: Department of Animals in Science and Society, Division of Behavioural Neuroscience, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Utrecht University, Yalelaan 2, 3584 CM, Utrecht, The Netherlands.
authors: Louk J M J
authors: LJ
authors: Vanderschuren
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D000697:Central Nervous System Stimulants / Q000494:pharmacology; D003042:Cocaine / Q000494:pharmacology; D003216:Conditioning, Operant / Q000187:drug effects; D003342:Corpus Striatum / Q000187:drug effects / Q000502:physiology*; D018492:Dopamine Antagonists / Q000494:pharmacology; D005475:Flupenthixol / Q000494:pharmacology; D008297:Male; D009714:Nucleus Accumbens / Q000187:drug effects; D051381:Rats; D012054:Reinforcement, Psychology; D009435:Synaptic Transmission / Q000187:drug effects
chemical_list: D000697:Central Nervous System Stimulants; D018492:Dopamine Antagonists; D005475:Flupenthixol; D003042:Cocaine
keywords: alcohol; dopamine; nucleus accumbens; reinforcement; self-administration