Abstract:
This research demonstrates that the neurons in the nucleus
accumbens, locus coeruleus, and anterior insula that coordinate to mediate
alcohol abuse behavior such as aversion-resistant alcohol intake (ARAI) are organized in segregated clusters that
can each be individually targeted for potential drug therapy. Homotypic injections
resulted in complete colocalization of injected fluorescent beads, while
heterotypic injections resulted in complete non-colocalization of the beads.
Therefore, an injection in the NAc will not disrupt AIns-LC function, and vice
versa. As the AIns-NAc neurons have been shown to regulate aversion-resistant
alcohol intake, this connection is ripe for drug therapy studies and has great
potential for novel therapeutic interventions for compulsive alcohol seeking in
humans.