Browsing by Subject "drinking behaviors"

Now showing 1 - 2 of 2
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    Neurotransmitter Specific Roles in the Basolateral Amygdala and Their Effect on Ethanol-Seeking and Intake
    (Office of the Vice Chancellor for Research, 2013-04-05) Chumin, Evgeny; Czachowski, Cristine L.; DeLory, Michael
    Relapse is a major problem in alcoholism treatment. Environmental cues can act as triggers that can reinstate alcohol use. By understanding specific neurochemical processes in the brain we can develop new treatments which will be focused on relapse prevention. Specifically the basolateral amygdala (BLA) which is involved in motivated responding and cue-induced reinstatement is of key interest. The aim of this study was to dissect drinking behaviors in an animal model (Long Evans rats) into two parts: appetitive (related to cue-induced reinstatement) and consummatory (related to primary reinforcement). Using operant chambers, lever pressing was a measure of an appetitive response and intake measured consummatory response. We looked at involvement of specific neurotransmitters in the BLA via microinjections of a dopamine and a glutamate antagonist. After initial lever press training, the rats received weekly microinjections of the two drugs as well as artificial cerebrospinal fluid in a randomized order to study their effects on ethanol (n = 5-8/group) and sucrose (n = 6-11/group) responding. Preliminary findings suggest both neurotransmitter- and behavior- specific effects. That is, manipulations of the BLA do not affect the intake of either sucrose or ethanol. This is consistent with findings suggesting that this area is not involved in processing primary reinforcement. However, the administration of the glutamate antagonist (but not the dopamine antagonist) in the BLA had a tendency to decrease reinforcer-seeking at the highest dose (p<0.09). This effect was not reinforcer specific, suggesting that the BLA glutamate activity may be involved in reinforcer-seeking rather than specifically in ethanol-seeking. Overall, the findings of this study will provide new insight into neurotransmitter function in the BLA, its relationship to alcohol intake, and will hopefully drive future research into development of new drugs that will reduce alcohol cravings and chance of relapse.
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    Role of Positive and Negative Urgency and Social Context on Problematic Alcohol Use Behaviors
    (Office of the Vice Chancellor for Research, 2015-04-17) Entezari, Andree B.; Karyadi, Kenny A.; Cyders, Melissa A.
    Social context influences drinking behaviors; in particular, problematic alcohol use among adolescents and young adults is more frequent in those who drink in more social contexts or who drink for social reasons. Moreover, although positive and negative urgency (i.e., the tendency to act rashly in response to extreme positive or negative emotional states, respectively) also relate to problematic alcohol use, it is unclear whether these impulsivity traits affect problematic alcohol use through social context. As such, the current study examined how positive and negative urgency influence problematic alcohol consumption through the social context of drinking. Participants (n = 348, n = 70 men; Mean age = 20 (SD= 4.5); 78.2% Caucasian) were recruited from the Introduction to Psychology course from IUPUI and received course credit for the completion of an online survey. A series of correlation and mediation analyses were conducted. Problematic alcohol use was significantly related to positive urgency (r=0.33, p<.001) and negative urgency (r= 0.29, p<.001). Although contextual drinking factors did not mediate the relationship between urgency and problematic alcohol use, the relationship between urgency and problematic alcohol use was significantly mediated by the endorsement of social drinking motives (e.g., I drink in order to be more social) (indirect effect of positive urgency b = 1.85, indirect effect of negative urgency b =2.02). Even though social drinking context was not a significant mediator, likely due to very few people reporting drinking in isolation in the current sample, the endorsement of drinking for social reasons might partially explain how urgency influences problematic alcohol use. In this way, intervening on social drinking motives might mitigate the effects of urgency on problematic alcohol use, particularly among college students at risk for alcohol use problems.