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Different pattern of brain c-Fos expression following re-exposure to ethanol or sucrose self-administration environment

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Abstract

Exposure of alcohol addicts to alcohol-related environmental cues may elicit alcohol-seeking behavior and lead to relapse to heavy drinking. The aim of the present study was to identify brain regions activated by alcohol (ethanol)-related stimuli in Wistar rats trained to lever press for 8% ethanol solution in operant self-administration cages. Ethanol self-administration was stabilized in a maintenance phase, which lasted for 30 days. c-Fos protein expression was used as a marker of neuronal activation.

Re-exposure to ethanol self-administration environment after 30-day but not after 24-h abstinence increased the number of Fos-positive nuclei in the thalamic paraventricular nucleus, granular insular cortex and medial prefrontal cortex. In general, no differences were found in c-Fos protein expression between the rats allowed to self-administer alcohol and the subjects exposed only to alcohol-related stimuli. In contrast, no increase in c-Fos immunoreactivity was observed in rats trained to lever press for sucrose solution and exposed to sucrose-related environmental stimuli after 30-day abstinence.

Taken together, these results suggest that at least some thalamo-cortical circuits become more responsive to ethanol-paired stimuli after prolonged abstinence and that ethanol- and sucrose-seeking behavior may be regulated by partially different neural mechanism(s).

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Acknowledgment

The study was supported by the State Committee for Scientific Research (grants no. 4P05A 08 317 and PBZ-KBN-033/P05/2002).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Pharmacology, Institute of Pharmacology, Polish Academy of Sciences, Smetna 12 Street, 31343, Krakow, Poland

    Krzysztof Wedzony, Anna Czyrak, Agnieszka Chocyk, Klaudia Czepiel, Katarzyna Fijal & Marzena Mackowiak

  2. Department of Pharmacology, Institute of Psychiatry and Neurology, Sobieskiego 9 Street, 02957, Warsaw, Poland

    Eliza Koros, Artur Rogowski, Wojciech Kostowski & Przemyslaw Bienkowski

  3. Department of Experimental and Clinical Pharmacology, Warsaw Medical Academy, Krakowskie Przedmiescie 26/28 Street, 00527, Warsaw, Poland

    Wojciech Kostowski

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  1. Krzysztof Wedzony
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  2. Eliza Koros
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Correspondence to Przemyslaw Bienkowski.

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Wedzony, K., Koros, E., Czyrak, A. et al. Different pattern of brain c-Fos expression following re-exposure to ethanol or sucrose self-administration environment. Naunyn-Schmiedeberg's Arch Pharmacol 368, 331–341 (2003). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00210-003-0811-7

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