C L Cunningham

..Drinking to alleviate the symptoms of acute withdrawal is included in diagnostic criteria for alcoholism, but the contribution of acute withdrawal relief to high alcohol intake has been difficult to model in animals...

..However, spatial location per se was not an effective CS. These studies suggest that CPP conditioned to tactile cues is mediated by brain systems different from those mediating CPP conditioned to visual-spatial cues...

..More specifically, in both cases, CPA can be attributed to an initial, short-lived aversive effect, whereas CPP can be attributed to a delayed rewarding effect of ethanol...

..However, there are very few demonstrations of either tolerance or sensitization to ethanol's rewarding or reinforcing effects...

..This issue is important because the mechanisms underlying a drug's effect in the place-conditioning procedure may differ depending on whether the apparatus is biased or unbiased...

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..Overall, this study strongly supports the conclusion that dopamine D2 receptors normally influence ethanol reward in mice...

..Thus, one would expect ethanol agonists, when administered in close proximity to CS-ethanol pairings, to interfere with control of ethanol seeking by that CS...

..This finding contrasts with other studies showing greater sensitivity of DBA/2J mice to the rewarding effects of ethanol and morphine in the place conditioning task...

..Potential problems in the design and interpretation of place conditioning studies are discussed. A typical experiment lasts 2 weeks...

..Although many studies have shown Pavlovian conditioned approach to cues paired with natural reinforcers, it has been quite difficult to induce such behavior with drug reinforcers...

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..These data suggest that the determinants of these two measures are genetically diverse, but may share some common genetic elements...

..Overall, these studies suggest that the IG self-infusion procedure is a potentially useful new tool for studying genetic and environmental influences on excessive ethanol intake and preference in mice...

..The results suggest that there is a gene(s) on proximal chromosome 19 that strongly influences DAT expression in neostriatum and may influence psychostimulant-induced activity and thermal responses...

..Some of these genes appear to influence taste sensitivity, whereas others appear to mediate sensitivity to aversive pharmacological effects of ethanol...

..These results do not support the hypothesis that ethanol-induced taste aversion is mediated by the drug's rewarding properties...

..The current findings indicate that maternal environment may contribute to variance in EtOH-induced hypothermia and EtOH intake, although effects on EtOH intake appear to be dependent upon the type of EtOH exposure...

..Nevertheless, these findings provide evidence showing that Acb NMDA receptors play an important role in the expression of ethanol-conditioned behavior...

..We hypothesized that this interference effect was due to large ethanol-induced increases in activity...

..These findings may indicate that BE is not essential for the postingestive reinforcing effects of ethanol in these animals...

..Rather, these data appear more consistent with previous studies showing strain differences in lithium pharmacokinetics and in general sensitivity to aversive events...

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..Overall, these data suggest an important role for the mesolimbic dopamine pathway, extended amygdala and hippocampus in ethanol-induced conditioning...

..Increases in water intake and bidirectional effects of topiramate on ethanol dose complicate conclusions with regard to the effects of topiramate on ethanol reward...

..These are the first studies in any species to show a role for amygdala dopamine receptors and the first studies in mice to implicate accumbens NMDA receptors in ethanol-induced conditioned effects...

..GABA(A) receptor antagonists have been shown to reduce ethanol self-administration and ethanol-induced conditioned taste aversion (CTA) in rats, suggesting a role for the GABA(A) receptor in modulating ethanol's motivational effects...

..These results provide the first demonstration that 3 alpha,5 alpha-P, an endogenous modulator of GABAA receptor function, possesses rewarding properties using the conditioned place preference paradigm...

..The present experiments were designed to reestablish a model that uses passive intragastric (IG) infusion of ethanol to induce tolerance/dependence/withdrawal before allowing rats to self-infuse ethanol intragastrically...

..Cunningham; and (4) Utilization of place conditioning for understanding the neuropharmacology of the rewarding effects of ethanol, by Fred O. Risinger...

..Under some conditions, GIRK2 knockout mice consume more ethanol than wild types, but it is unclear whether they do so because they are more sensitive to ethanol's rewarding effects or less sensitive to its aversive effects...

..The present studies examined temporal and other parameters of chronic ethanol exposure on subsequent intragastric (IG) self-infusion of ethanol...

..A frequently expressed criticism of the conditioned place preference (CPP) procedure is that it sometimes lacks a graded dose-response curve for many drugs...

..Both groups showed strong CPA. Overall, the present findings are consistent with previous findings of CPA in heterogeneous rats, suggesting that the aversive postabsorptive effects of ethanol produce CPA...

..For the first time, these results demonstrate the role of the Acb and Amy in the acquisition and expression of ethanol-induced conditioned reward...

..While the exact mechanisms underlying these effects of apoE are unknown, these data support a possible role for apoE in modulating the conditioned rewarding properties of ethanol...

..The interpretation of ethanol-induced CTA as more genetically distinct must be tempered by the inability to test the CTA lines beyond Selection Generation 2...

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..Moreover, these results suggest CGP-37849 modulates ethanol place conditioning by impairing the ability to learn these tasks...

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..Together, these data suggest that EtOH-related learning and EtOH reward in mice, as assessed with CPP, are not impaired by the systemically administered MEK-inhibitor SL327...

..Thus, the current experiments examined the effects of DCS on the extinction and subsequent reconditioning of ethanol-induced CPP in mice...

..However, animals conditioned for CPP exhibited robust CPP, regardless of handling. These findings provide additional evidence that the conditioned rewarding and aversive effects of ethanol are mediated by different neural mechanisms...

..These results demonstrate an approach for conducting therapeutic conditioning trials in EAE mice and suggest considerations for future investigations...

..These findings indicate that the conditioned rewarding effect of ethanol is expressed through a VTA-dependent mechanism that involves both opioid and GABA(B) receptors...

..We assert that unique combinations of classical approaches with current behavioral and molecular genomic approaches will more rapidly advance the field...

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..However, ethanol place conditioning studies have less consistently demonstrated a role for DA in conditioned place preference...

..This unit describes a method for assessing the reinforcing effects of alcohol in mice using the most widely accepted procedure for assessing drug reward: intravenous self-administration...

..These findings support the assumption that postingestive effects contribute to the reinforcement produced by self-administered ethanol in rats...

..Such efforts should help us to recognize increased risk of alcohol abuse, to devise more efficient and effective treatments for alcoholism and to outline more effective prevention strategies...

..By improving our understanding of these processes, we can identify more effective treatment and prevention strategies. ..

..These studies could prove to be especially useful in the evaluation of putative pharmacotherapies intended to reduce alcohol craving and in the design of behavioral interventions to decrease ethanol-seeking behavior. ..

..g., cue-exposure therapy) to decrease ethanol-seeking behavior. ..