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Sharma R, Chischolm A, Parikh M, Kempuraj D, Thakkar M. Cholinergic Interneurons in the Accumbal Shell Region Regulate Binge Alcohol Self-Administration in Mice: An In Vivo Calcium Imaging Study. Brain Sci 2024; 14:484. [PMID: 38790462 PMCID: PMC11120271 DOI: 10.3390/brainsci14050484] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/16/2024] [Revised: 05/02/2024] [Accepted: 05/07/2024] [Indexed: 05/26/2024] Open
Abstract
Recently, we and others have shown that manipulating the activity of cholinergic interneurons (CIN) present in the NAc can modulate binge alcohol consumption. The present study is designed to examine the relationship between binge alcohol consumption and the activity of the CIN in real time by using an in vivo microendoscopic technique. We hypothesized that mice exposed to Drinking in the Dark (DID)-a recognized mouse model for binge drinking-would exhibit increased activity in the accumbal shell region (NAcSh). To test this hypothesis, male mice expressing Cre-recombinase in the cholinergic neurons were exposed to binge alcohol consumption (alcohol group), employing the DID method, and utilized in vivo calcium imaging to observe CIN activity in real time during alcohol consumption. The control (sucrose) group was exposed to 10% (w/v) sucrose. As compared to sucrose, mice in the alcohol group displayed a significant increase in the frequency and amplitude of discharge activity, which was measured using calcium transients in the CIN present in the NAcSh. In summary, our findings suggest that the activity of CIN in the NAcSh plays a crucial role in alcohol self-administration. These results emphasize the potential significance of targeting CIN activity as a therapeutic approach for addressing AUD.
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Affiliation(s)
| | | | | | | | - Mahesh Thakkar
- Harry S. Truman Memorial Veterans Hospital, Department of Neurology, University of Missouri, Columbia, MO 65201, USA; (R.S.); (A.C.); (M.P.); (D.K.)
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Sharma R, Chischolm A, Parikh M, Thakkar M. Cholinergic interneurons in the shell region of the nucleus accumbens regulate binge alcohol consumption: A chemogenetic and genetic lesion study. ALCOHOL, CLINICAL & EXPERIMENTAL RESEARCH 2024; 48:827-842. [PMID: 38549545 PMCID: PMC11073918 DOI: 10.1111/acer.15295] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/14/2024] [Revised: 02/11/2024] [Accepted: 02/20/2024] [Indexed: 05/07/2024]
Abstract
BACKGROUND Binge drinking, characterized by heavy episodic alcohol consumption, poses significant health hazards and increases the likelihood of developing an alcohol use disorder (AUD). Given the growing prevalence of this behavior and its negative consequences, there is a need to explore novel therapeutic targets. Accumulating evidence suggests that cholinergic interneurons (CIN) within the shell region of the nucleus accumbens (NAcSh) play a critical role in reward and addiction. However, their specific involvement in binge alcohol administration remains unclear. We hypothesized that CIN in the NAcSh regulates binge alcohol consumption. METHODS To test this hypothesis, we used male ChAT-cre mice expressing Cre-recombinase in cholinergic neurons. We performed chemogenetic manipulation using Designer Receptor Exclusively Activated by Designer Drugs (DREADD) to examine the activity, and genetic ablation of CIN in the NAcSh to examine the amount of alcohol consumed in mice exposed to binge alcohol consumption using the 4-Days Drinking-in-Dark (DID) paradigm. The impact of CIN manipulations in the NAcSh on sucrose self-administration was used to control for taste and caloric effects. Additionally, in a separate group of mice, c-Fos immunofluorescence was employed to verify chemogenetic activation or inhibition. Histological and immunohistochemical techniques were used to verify microinfusion sites, DREADD expression in CINs, and genetic ablation. RESULTS We found that, while chemogenetic activation of CIN in the NAcSh caused a significant increase in alcohol consumption, chemogenetic inhibition or genetic ablation of CIN significantly reduced the amount of alcohol consumed without affecting sucrose self-administration. The chemogenetic inhibition caused a significant reduction, whereas activation caused a significant increase, in the number of c-Fos-labeled CIN in the NAcSh. CONCLUSIONS Our findings highlight the crucial involvement of CIN in the NAcSh in modulating binge alcohol consumption, suggesting that targeting these neurons could serve to modify alcohol-related behaviors.
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Affiliation(s)
- Rishi Sharma
- Harry S. Truman Memorial Veterans Hospital and Department of Neurology, University of Missouri, Columbia, Missouri, USA
| | - Abigail Chischolm
- Harry S. Truman Memorial Veterans Hospital and Department of Neurology, University of Missouri, Columbia, Missouri, USA
| | - Meet Parikh
- Harry S. Truman Memorial Veterans Hospital and Department of Neurology, University of Missouri, Columbia, Missouri, USA
| | - Mahesh Thakkar
- Harry S. Truman Memorial Veterans Hospital and Department of Neurology, University of Missouri, Columbia, Missouri, USA
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van den Oord EJCG, Xie LY, Zhao M, Aberg KA, Clark SL. A single-nucleus transcriptomics study of alcohol use disorder in the nucleus accumbens. Addict Biol 2023; 28:e13250. [PMID: 36577731 DOI: 10.1111/adb.13250] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/15/2022] [Revised: 08/29/2022] [Accepted: 10/13/2022] [Indexed: 11/14/2022]
Abstract
Gene expression studies offer promising opportunities to better understand the processes underlying alcohol use disorder (AUD). As cell types differ in their function, gene expression profiles will typically vary across cell types. When studying bulk tissue, failure to account for this cellular diversity has a detrimental impact on the ability to detect disease associations. We therefore assayed the transcriptomes of 32,531 individual nuclei extracted from the nucleus accumbens (NAc) of nine donors with AUD and nine controls (72% male). Our study identified 17 clearly delineated cell types. We detected 26 transcriptome-wide significant differentially expressed genes (DEGs) that mainly involved medium spiny neurons with both D1-type and D2-type dopamine receptors, microglia (MGL) and oligodendrocytes. A higher than expected number of DEGs replicated in an existing single nucleus gene expression study of alcohol dependence in the prefrontal cortex (enrichment ratio 1.91, p value 0.019) with two genes remaining significant after a Bonferroni correction. Our most compelling result involved CD53 in MGL that replicated in the same cell type in the prefrontal cortex and was previously implicated in studies of DNA methylation, bulk gene expression and genetic variants. Several DEGs were previously reported to be associated with AUD (e.g., PER1 and MGAT5). The DEGs for MSN.3 seemed involved in neurodegeneration, disruption of circadian rhythms, alterations in glucose metabolism and changes in synaptic plasticity. For MGL, the DEGs implicated neuroinflammation and immune-related processes and for OLI, disruptions in myelination. This identification of the specific cell-types from which the association signals originate will be key for designing proper follow-up experiments and, eventually, novel clinical interventions.
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Affiliation(s)
- Edwin J C G van den Oord
- Center for Biomarker Research and Precision Medicine, Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, Virginia, USA
| | - Lin Y Xie
- Center for Biomarker Research and Precision Medicine, Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, Virginia, USA
| | - Min Zhao
- Center for Biomarker Research and Precision Medicine, Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, Virginia, USA
| | - Karolina A Aberg
- Center for Biomarker Research and Precision Medicine, Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, Virginia, USA
| | - Shaunna L Clark
- Department of Psychiatry & Behavioral Sciences, Texas A&M University, College Station, Texas, USA
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Grigsby K, Ledford C, Batish T, Kanadibhotla S, Smith D, Firsick E, Tran A, Townsley K, Reyes KAV, LeBlanc K, Ozburn A. Targeting the Maladaptive Effects of Binge Drinking on Circadian Gene Expression. Int J Mol Sci 2022; 23:11084. [PMID: 36232380 PMCID: PMC9569456 DOI: 10.3390/ijms231911084] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/15/2022] [Revised: 09/16/2022] [Accepted: 09/17/2022] [Indexed: 11/17/2022] Open
Abstract
Previous studies (1) support a role of circadian genes in regulating alcohol intake, and (2) reveal that harmful alcohol use alters circadian rhythms. However, there is minimal knowledge of the effects of chronic alcohol processes on rhythmic circadian gene expression across brain regions important for circadian biology and alcohol intake. Therefore, the present study sought to test the effects of chronic binge-like drinking on diurnal circadian gene expression patterns in the master circadian pacemaker (SCN), the ventral tegmental area (VTA), and the nucleus accumbens (NAc) in High Drinking in the Dark-1 (HDID-1) mice, a unique genetic risk model for drinking to intoxication. Consistent with earlier findings, we found that 8 weeks of binge-like drinking reduced the amplitude of several core circadian clock genes in the NAc and SCN, but not the VTA. To better inform the use of circadian-relevant pharmacotherapies in reducing harmful drinking and ameliorating alcohol's effects on circadian gene expression, we tested whether the casein kinase-1 inhibitor, PF-67046, or the phosphodiesterase type-4 (an upstream regulator of circadian signalling) inhibitor, apremilast, would reduce binge-like intake and mitigate circadian gene suppression. PF-67046 did not reduce intake but did have circadian gene effects. In contrast, apremilast reduced drinking, but had no effect on circadian expression patterns.
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Affiliation(s)
- Kolter Grigsby
- Portland Veterans Affairs Medical Center, Research and Development Service, Portland, OR 97239, USA
- Department of Behavioral Neuroscience, Oregon Health and Science University, Portland, OR 97239, USA
| | - Courtney Ledford
- Portland Veterans Affairs Medical Center, Research and Development Service, Portland, OR 97239, USA
- Department of Behavioral Neuroscience, Oregon Health and Science University, Portland, OR 97239, USA
| | - Tanvi Batish
- Portland Veterans Affairs Medical Center, Research and Development Service, Portland, OR 97239, USA
- Department of Behavioral Neuroscience, Oregon Health and Science University, Portland, OR 97239, USA
| | - Snigdha Kanadibhotla
- Portland Veterans Affairs Medical Center, Research and Development Service, Portland, OR 97239, USA
- Department of Behavioral Neuroscience, Oregon Health and Science University, Portland, OR 97239, USA
| | - Delaney Smith
- Portland Veterans Affairs Medical Center, Research and Development Service, Portland, OR 97239, USA
- Department of Behavioral Neuroscience, Oregon Health and Science University, Portland, OR 97239, USA
| | - Evan Firsick
- Portland Veterans Affairs Medical Center, Research and Development Service, Portland, OR 97239, USA
- Department of Behavioral Neuroscience, Oregon Health and Science University, Portland, OR 97239, USA
| | - Alexander Tran
- Portland Veterans Affairs Medical Center, Research and Development Service, Portland, OR 97239, USA
- Department of Behavioral Neuroscience, Oregon Health and Science University, Portland, OR 97239, USA
| | - Kayla Townsley
- Portland Veterans Affairs Medical Center, Research and Development Service, Portland, OR 97239, USA
- Department of Behavioral Neuroscience, Oregon Health and Science University, Portland, OR 97239, USA
| | - Kaylee-Abril Vasquez Reyes
- Portland Veterans Affairs Medical Center, Research and Development Service, Portland, OR 97239, USA
- Department of Behavioral Neuroscience, Oregon Health and Science University, Portland, OR 97239, USA
| | - Katherine LeBlanc
- Portland Veterans Affairs Medical Center, Research and Development Service, Portland, OR 97239, USA
- Department of Behavioral Neuroscience, Oregon Health and Science University, Portland, OR 97239, USA
| | - Angela Ozburn
- Portland Veterans Affairs Medical Center, Research and Development Service, Portland, OR 97239, USA
- Department of Behavioral Neuroscience, Oregon Health and Science University, Portland, OR 97239, USA
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Al-Sabagh Y, Thorpe HHA, Jenkins BW, Hamidullah S, Talhat MA, Suggett CB, Reitz CJ, Rasouli M, Martino TA, Khokhar JY. Rev-erbα Knockout Reduces Ethanol Consumption and Preference in Male and Female Mice. Int J Mol Sci 2022; 23:ijms23095197. [PMID: 35563586 PMCID: PMC9104180 DOI: 10.3390/ijms23095197] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/23/2022] [Revised: 04/30/2022] [Accepted: 05/03/2022] [Indexed: 11/16/2022] Open
Abstract
Alcohol use is a contributor in the premature deaths of approximately 3 million people annually. Among the risk factors for alcohol misuse is circadian rhythm disruption; however, this connection remains poorly understood. Inhibition of the circadian nuclear receptor REV-ERBα is known to disrupt molecular feedback loops integral to daily oscillations, and impact diurnal fluctuations in the expression of proteins required for reward-related neurotransmission. However, the role of REV-ERBα in alcohol and substance use-related phenotypes is unknown. Herein, we used a Rev-erbα knockout mouse line and ethanol two-bottle choice preference testing to show that disruption of Rev-erbα reduces ethanol preference in male and female mice. Rev-erbα null mice showed the lowest ethanol preference in a two-bottle choice test across all genotypes, whereas there were no ethanol preference differences between heterozygotes and wildtypes. In a separate experiment, alcohol-consuming wildtype C57Bl/6N mice were administered the REV-ERBα/β inhibitor SR8278 (25 mg/kg or 50 mg/kg) for 7 days and alcohol preference was evaluated daily. No differences in alcohol preference were observed between the treatment and vehicle groups. Our data provides evidence that genetic variation in REV-ERBα may contribute to differences in alcohol drinking.
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Affiliation(s)
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | - Tami Avril Martino
- Correspondence: (T.A.M.); (J.Y.K.); Tel.: +1-(519)-824-4120 (ext. 54239) (J.Y.K.)
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Sharma R, Parikh M, Mishra V, Sahota P, Thakkar M. Activation of dopamine D2 receptors in the medial shell region of the nucleus accumbens increases Per1 expression to enhance alcohol consumption. Addict Biol 2022; 27:e13133. [PMID: 35032086 DOI: 10.1111/adb.13133] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/29/2021] [Revised: 10/04/2021] [Accepted: 12/10/2021] [Indexed: 11/28/2022]
Abstract
Circadian genes, including Per1, in the medial shell region of nucleus accumbens (mNAcSh), regulate binge alcohol consumption. However, the upstream mechanism regulating circadian genes-induced alcohol consumption is not known. Since activation of dopamine D2 receptors (D2R) increases Per1 gene expression, we hypothesised that local infusion of quinpirole, a D2R agonist, by increasing Per1 gene expression in the mNAcSh, will increase binge alcohol consumption in mice. We performed two experiments on male C57BL/6J mice, instrumented with bilateral guide cannulas above the mNAcSh, and exposed to a 4-day drinking-in-dark (DID) paradigm. The first experiment determined the effects of bilateral infusion of quinpirole (100 ng/300 nl/site) or DMSO (Vehicle group) in the mNAcSh on Per1 gene expression and alcohol consumption. The second experiment determined the effect of antisense-induced downregulation of Per1 in the mNAcSh on the quinpirole-induced increase in alcohol consumption. Control experiments were performed by exposing the animals to sucrose (10% w/v). After the experiment, animals were euthanised, brains removed and processed for localisation of injection sites and analysis of Per1 gene expression in the mNAcSh. As compared with the DMSO, local bilateral infusion of quinpirole significantly increased the expression of Per1 in the mNAcSh along with an increase in the amount of alcohol consumed in mice exposed to DID paradigm. In addition, local antisense-induced downregulation of Per1 significantly attenuated the effects of intro-accumbal infusion of quinpirole on alcohol consumption. Our results suggest that Per1 in the mNAcSh mediates D2R activation-induced increase in alcohol consumption.
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Affiliation(s)
- Rishi Sharma
- Harry S. Truman Memorial Veterans Hospital and Department of Neurology University of Missouri Columbia Missouri USA
| | - Meet Parikh
- Harry S. Truman Memorial Veterans Hospital and Department of Neurology University of Missouri Columbia Missouri USA
| | - Vaibhav Mishra
- Harry S. Truman Memorial Veterans Hospital and Department of Neurology University of Missouri Columbia Missouri USA
| | - Pradeep Sahota
- Harry S. Truman Memorial Veterans Hospital and Department of Neurology University of Missouri Columbia Missouri USA
| | - Mahesh Thakkar
- Harry S. Truman Memorial Veterans Hospital and Department of Neurology University of Missouri Columbia Missouri USA
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7
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Bauer MR, McVey MM, Germano DM, Zhang Y, Boehm SL. Intra-dorsolateral striatal AMPA receptor antagonism reduces binge-like alcohol drinking in male and female C57BL/6J mice. Behav Brain Res 2022; 418:113631. [PMID: 34715146 PMCID: PMC8671209 DOI: 10.1016/j.bbr.2021.113631] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/18/2021] [Revised: 09/15/2021] [Accepted: 10/11/2021] [Indexed: 12/27/2022]
Abstract
The dorsolateral striatum (DLS) is involved in addiction, reward, and alcohol related behaviors. The DLS primarily receives excitatory inputs which are gated by post-synaptic AMPA receptors. We antagonized AMPA receptors in the DLS to investigate how such modulation affects binge-like alcohol drinking in male and female C57BL/6J mice and whether an associated alcohol drinking history alters dorsomedial striatum (DMS) and DLS AMPA receptor expression. We also investigated the effect of intra-DLS NBQX on locomotor activity and saccharin drinking in mice. Mice were allowed free access to 20% alcohol for two hours each day for a total of seven days. Mice received an intra-DLS infusion of one of four concentrations of NBQX (saline, 0.15, 0.5, or 1.5 μg/side), an AMPA receptor antagonist, immediately prior to alcohol access on day 7. Two-hour binge alcohol intakes, locomotor activity, and blood alcohol concentrations were determined. Intra-DLS NBQX reduced binge-like alcohol drinking in a U-shaped manner in male and female mice. Intake predicted blood alcohol concentration, and locomotor activity was not affected. In a follow up experiment, we assessed whether the most effective NBQX concentration for reducing alcohol consumption also reduced saccharin drinking, finding intra-DLS NBQX did not alter saccharin drinking in male and female mice. These data suggest that AMPA receptors in the DLS play a role in the modulation of binge-like alcohol drinking. These findings further validate the importance of the DLS for alcohol related behaviors and alcohol use disorder.
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Affiliation(s)
- Meredith R Bauer
- Indiana Alcohol Research Center and Department of Psychology, Indiana University - Purdue University Indianapolis, Indianapolis, IN 46202, USA
| | - Megan M McVey
- Indiana Alcohol Research Center and Department of Psychology, Indiana University - Purdue University Indianapolis, Indianapolis, IN 46202, USA
| | - Damon M Germano
- Indiana Alcohol Research Center and Department of Psychology, Indiana University - Purdue University Indianapolis, Indianapolis, IN 46202, USA
| | - Yanping Zhang
- Indiana Alcohol Research Center and Department of Psychology, Indiana University - Purdue University Indianapolis, Indianapolis, IN 46202, USA
| | - Stephen L Boehm
- Indiana Alcohol Research Center and Department of Psychology, Indiana University - Purdue University Indianapolis, Indianapolis, IN 46202, USA.
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Sharma R, Parikh M, Mishra V, Soni A, Rubi S, Sahota P, Thakkar M. Antisense-induced downregulation of major circadian genes modulates the expression of histone deacetylase-2 (HDAC-2) and CREB-binding protein (CBP) in the medial shell region of nucleus accumbens of mice exposed to chronic excessive alcohol consumption. J Neurochem 2021; 161:8-19. [PMID: 34837399 DOI: 10.1111/jnc.15547] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/30/2021] [Revised: 11/23/2021] [Accepted: 11/23/2021] [Indexed: 12/12/2022]
Abstract
Circadian genes in the medial accumbal shell (mNAcSh) region regulate binge alcohol consumption. Here, we investigated if antisense-induced knockdown of major circadian genes (Per1, Per2, and NPAS2) in the mNAcSh of mice exposed to intermittent access two-bottle choice (IA2BC) paradigm modulates the expression of histone deacetylase-2 (HDAC-2) and CREB-binding protein (CBP), key epigenetic modifiers associated with withdrawal-associated behaviors such as anxiety. Adult male C57BL/6J mice (N = 28), surgically implanted with bilateral guide cannulas above the mNAcSh, were chronically (4 weeks) exposed to alcohol (20% v/v) or saccharin (0.03%) via IA2BC paradigm. In the fourth week, a mixture of antisense (AS-ODNs; N = 14/group) or nonsense (NS-ODNs; N = 14/group) oligodeoxynucleotides against circadian genes were bilaterally infused into the mNAcSh. Subsequently, alcohol/saccharin consumption and preference were measured followed by euthanization of animals and verification of microinjection sites by visual inspection and the expression of HDAC-2 and CBP by using RT-PCR along with the verification of antisense-induced downregulation of circadian genes in the mNAcSh. As compared with NS-ODNs, AS-ODNs infusion significantly attenuated the alcohol-induced increase in HDAC-2 and reduction in CBP expression in the mNAcSh along with a significant reduction in alcohol consumption and preference. No significant effect was observed on either saccharin consumption or preference. Our results suggest that circadian genes in the mNAcSh may have a causal to play in mediating epigenetic changes observed after chronic alcohol consumption.
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Affiliation(s)
- Rishi Sharma
- Harry S. Truman Memorial Veterans Hospital and Department of Neurology, University of Missouri-School of Medicine, Columbia, Missouri, USA
| | - Meet Parikh
- Harry S. Truman Memorial Veterans Hospital and Department of Neurology, University of Missouri-School of Medicine, Columbia, Missouri, USA
| | - Vaibhav Mishra
- Harry S. Truman Memorial Veterans Hospital and Department of Neurology, University of Missouri-School of Medicine, Columbia, Missouri, USA
| | - Anshul Soni
- Harry S. Truman Memorial Veterans Hospital and Department of Neurology, University of Missouri-School of Medicine, Columbia, Missouri, USA
| | - Sofia Rubi
- Harry S. Truman Memorial Veterans Hospital and Department of Neurology, University of Missouri-School of Medicine, Columbia, Missouri, USA
| | - Pradeep Sahota
- Harry S. Truman Memorial Veterans Hospital and Department of Neurology, University of Missouri-School of Medicine, Columbia, Missouri, USA
| | - Mahesh Thakkar
- Harry S. Truman Memorial Veterans Hospital and Department of Neurology, University of Missouri-School of Medicine, Columbia, Missouri, USA
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Sharma R, Mishra V, Parikh M, Soni A, Sahota P, Thakkar M. Antisense-induced knockdown of cAMP response element-binding protein downregulates Per1 gene expression in the shell region of nucleus accumbens resulting in reduced alcohol consumption in mice. Alcohol Clin Exp Res 2021; 45:1940-1949. [PMID: 34424532 PMCID: PMC8602740 DOI: 10.1111/acer.14687] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/02/2021] [Revised: 07/29/2021] [Accepted: 07/29/2021] [Indexed: 11/30/2022]
Abstract
INTRODUCTION We recently showed that circadian genes expressed in the shell region of nucleus accumbens (NAcSh) play a key role in alcohol consumption, though, the molecular mechanism of those effects is unclear. Because CREB-binding protein (CBP) promotes Per1 gene expression, we hypothesized that alcohol consumption would increase CBP expression in the NAcSh and antisense-induced knockdown of CBP would reduce Per1 expression and result in a reduction in alcohol consumption. METHODS To test our hypothesis, we performed two experiments. The Drinking-in-the-dark (DID) paradigm was used to evaluate alcohol consumption in male C57BL/6J mice. In Experiment 1 we examined the effects of alcohol consumption on CBP gene expression in the NAcSh. Control animals were exposed to, sucrose [10% (w/v) taste and calorie] and water (consummatory behavior). In Experiment 2 examined the effects of CBP gene silencing on the expression of the Per1 gene in the NAcSh and alcohol consumption in mice exposed to alcohol using the DID paradigm. CBP gene silencing was achieved by local infusion of two doses of either CBP antisense oligodeoxynucleotides (AS-ODNs; Antisense group) or nonsense ODNs (NS-ODNs; Nonsense group) bilaterally microinjected into the NAcSh within 24 h before alcohol consumption on Day 4 of the DID paradigm. The microinfusion sites were verified by cresyl violet staining. RESULTS Compared to sucrose, alcohol consumption, under the DID paradigm, significantly increased the expression of CBP in the NAcSh. Compared to Controls, bilateral infusion of CBP AS-ODNs significantly reduced the expression of Per1 in the NAcSh and alcohol consumption without affecting the amount of sucrose consumed. CONCLUSIONS Our results suggest that CBP is an upstream regulator of Per1 expression in the NAcSh and may act via Per1 to modulate alcohol consumption.
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Affiliation(s)
- Rishi Sharma
- Department of Neurology, Harry S. Truman Memorial Veterans Hospital, University of Missouri, Columbia, Missouri, USA
| | - Vaibhav Mishra
- Department of Neurology, Harry S. Truman Memorial Veterans Hospital, University of Missouri, Columbia, Missouri, USA
| | - Meet Parikh
- Department of Neurology, Harry S. Truman Memorial Veterans Hospital, University of Missouri, Columbia, Missouri, USA
| | - Anshul Soni
- Department of Neurology, Harry S. Truman Memorial Veterans Hospital, University of Missouri, Columbia, Missouri, USA
| | - Pradeep Sahota
- Department of Neurology, Harry S. Truman Memorial Veterans Hospital, University of Missouri, Columbia, Missouri, USA
| | - Mahesh Thakkar
- Department of Neurology, Harry S. Truman Memorial Veterans Hospital, University of Missouri, Columbia, Missouri, USA
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