title: The bed nucleus of the stria terminalis in drug-associated behavior and affect: A circuit-based perspective.
abstract: The bed nucleus of the stria terminalis was first described nearly a century ago and has since emerged as a region central to motivated behavior and affective states. The last several decades have firmly established a role for the BNST in drug-associated behavior and implicated this region in addiction-related processes. Whereas past approaches used to characterize the BNST have focused on a more general role of this region and its subnuclei in behavior, more recent work has begun to reveal its elaborate circuitry and cellular components. Such recent developments are largely owed to methodological advances, which have made possible efforts previously deemed intractable, such as tracing of long-range cell-type specific projections and identifying functional efferent and afferent connections. In this review, we integrate earlier foundational work with more recent and advanced studies to construct a broad overview of the molecular neurocircuitry of the BNST in drug-associated behavior and affect. This article is part of the Special Issue entitled "Alcoholism".
authors.affiliation: Vanderbilt Center for Addiction Research, Vanderbilt University School of Medicine, USA; Department of Molecular Physiology and Biophysics, Vanderbilt University School of Medicine, USA.
authors.forename: Oliver
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Vranjkovic
authors.affiliation: Bowles Center for Alcohol Studies, Department of Pharmacology, School of Medicine, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, USA.
authors.forename: Melanie
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Pina
authors.affiliation: Bowles Center for Alcohol Studies, Department of Pharmacology, School of Medicine, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, USA.
authors.forename: Thomas L
authors.initials: TL
authors.lastname: Kash
authors.affiliation: Vanderbilt Center for Addiction Research, Vanderbilt University School of Medicine, USA; Department of Molecular Physiology and Biophysics, Vanderbilt University School of Medicine, USA; Department of Psychiatry, Vanderbilt University School of Medicine, USA; Department of Pharmacology, Vanderbilt University School of Medicine, USA; Vanderbilt Brain Institute, Vanderbilt University School of Medicine, Nashville, TN 37232, USA. Electronic address: danny.winder@vanderbilt.edu.
authors.forename: Danny G
authors.initials: DG
authors.lastname: Winder
mesh_terms: D000428:Alcohol Drinking; D000437:Alcoholism / Q000503:physiopathology*; D000818:Animals; D058999:Drug-Seeking Behavior; D006801:Humans; D009434:Neural Pathways; D012686:Septal Nuclei / Q000502:physiology* / Q000503:physiopathology*
keywords: Alcohol; Bed Nucleus of Stria Terminalis; Corticotropin Releasing Factor; Stress