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Differential Patterns of Alcohol Consumption and Dopamine-2 Receptor Binding in Wistar-Kyoto and Wistar Rats

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Abstract

The Wistar-Kyoto (WKY) rat strain has been described as an animal model of depressive behavior that consumes significantly greater amounts of alcohol compared to the Wistar (WIS) rat strain. Since the mesolimbic dopamine (DA) type-2 (D2) receptors mediate reward-related behaviors, the present study measured the binding of [125I]-Iodosulpiride to D2 receptors in the brains of WKY versus WIS rats following 24 days of voluntary alcohol or water consumption. Alcohol consuming WKY rats showed a significant increase in D2 receptor binding in several regions of the mesolimbic and nigrostriatal systems. In contrast, alcohol consuming WIS rats showed a reduction in D2 receptor binding in DA cell body areas. The differential regulation of D2 receptors by voluntary alcohol consumption in the two rat strains suggests that D2 receptor mediated neurotransmission may be playing a role in the increased alcohol drinking behavior reported in WKY rats.

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Acknowledgments

This study was supported by USPHS Grant AA 015921 to S.T-B, and research funds from the Office of Research and Development, Medical Research Service, Department of Veteran Affairs (W. P.). The authors wish to thank Drs. William P. Paré and Xilu Jiao for their help with this study.

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  1. Irene Morganstern

    Present address: Laboratory of Behavioral Neurobiology (Box 278), The Rockefeller University, New York, NY, 10065, USA

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  1. Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences (Box 118), University of the Sciences in Philadelphia, 600 South 43rd Street, Philadelphia, PA, 19104, USA

    Irene Morganstern & Shanaz Tejani-Butt

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Correspondence to Shanaz Tejani-Butt.

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Morganstern, I., Tejani-Butt, S. Differential Patterns of Alcohol Consumption and Dopamine-2 Receptor Binding in Wistar-Kyoto and Wistar Rats. Neurochem Res 35, 1708–1715 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11064-010-0233-0

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