Files and links (1)
Published, Version of Record (VoR)CC BY V4.0, Open
Journal article
Kappa-opioid receptor stimulation in the nucleus accumbens shell and ethanol drinking: Differential effects by rostro-caudal location and level of drinking
Neuropsychopharmacology (New York, N.Y.), v 49(10), pp 1550-1558
25 Mar 2024
PMID: 38528134
Featured in Collection : UN Sustainable Development Goals @ Drexel
Abstract
Although the kappa-opioid receptor (KOR) and its endogenous ligand, dynorphin, are believed to be involved in ethanol drinking, evidence on the direction of their effects has been mixed. The nucleus accumbens (NAc) shell densely expresses KORs, but previous studies have not found KOR activation to influence ethanol drinking. Using microinjections into the NAc shell of male and female Long-Evans rats that drank under the intermittent-access procedure, we found that the KOR agonist, U50,488, had no effect on ethanol drinking when injected into the middle NAc shell, but that it promoted intake in males and high-drinking females in the caudal NAc shell and high-drinking females in the rostral shell, and decreased intake in males and low-drinking females in the rostral shell. Conversely, injection of the KOR antagonist, nor-binaltorphimine, stimulated ethanol drinking in low-drinking females when injected into the rostral NAc shell and decreased drinking in high-drinking females when injected into the caudal NAc shell. These effects of KOR activity were substance-specific, as U50,488 did not affect sucrose intake. Using quantitative real-time PCR, we found that baseline gene expression of the KOR was higher in the rostral compared to caudal NAc shell, but that this was upregulated in the rostral shell with a history of ethanol drinking. Our findings have important clinical implications, demonstrating that KOR stimulation in the NAc shell can affect ethanol drinking, but that this depends on NAc subregion, subject sex, and ethanol intake level, and suggesting that this may be due to differences in KOR expression.
Metrics
Details
- Title
- Kappa-opioid receptor stimulation in the nucleus accumbens shell and ethanol drinking: Differential effects by rostro-caudal location and level of drinking
- Creators
- Breanne E Pirino - Drexel UniversityAnnie Hawks - Drexel UniversityBrody A Carpenter - Drexel UniversityPelagia G Candelas - Drexel UniversityAndrew T Gargiulo - Drexel UniversityGenevieve R Curtis - Drexel UniversityAnushree N Karkhanis - Binghamton UniversityJessica R Barson - Drexel University
- Publication Details
- Neuropsychopharmacology (New York, N.Y.), v 49(10), pp 1550-1558
- Publisher
- Springer Nature
- Number of pages
- 9
- Grant note
- R01AA028228 / U.S. Department of Health & Human Services | NIH | National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA)
- Resource Type
- Journal article
- Language
- English
- Academic Unit
- Neurobiology and Anatomy; College of Medicine
- Web of Science ID
- WOS:001190474100001
- Scopus ID
- 2-s2.0-85188522401
- Other Identifier
- 991021864117704721
UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)
This publication has contributed to the advancement of the following goals:
InCites Highlights
Data related to this publication, from InCites Benchmarking & Analytics tool:
- Collaboration types
- Domestic collaboration
- Web of Science research areas
- Neurosciences
- Pharmacology & Pharmacy
- Psychiatry