Neural mechanisms linking the responses to incentive stimuli to the formation and expression of ethanol-related habits
Principal Investigator: Dr. Jane Taylor. This project is a microcosm of the entire CTNA, conducting studies in animals that articulate mechanisms central to each project that could not be explicitly tested in humans. These studies will identify neurobehavioral mechanisms underlying vulnerability to habitual alcohol- seeking behavior and relapse.
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Alcohol-induced human striatal dopamine release, alcoholism vulnerability, and alcohol dependence
Principal Investigators: Dr. Anissa Abi-Dargham&
Dr. Ismene Petrakis.
CTNA
will
test
the
central
hypothesis
that
the
heritable
risk
for
alcoholism
reflects
dysfunction
of
cortico-striatal-midbrain
circuitry,
mediated
by
the
interplay
of
glutamate
and
dopamine,
that
biases
people
to
respond
to
drug-like
rewards
relative
to
delayed
reward/punishments.
This
bias
to
respond
to...
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Functional neuroimaging of alcoholism vulnerability: glutamate, reward, and Pavlovian-to-Instrumental Transfer
Principal Investigator: Dr. Godfrey Pearlson.
This
project
will
clarify
the
neurobiology
of
various
forms
of
impulsivity
and
disordered
reward
mechanisms
seen
in
individuals
at
risk
for
alcoholism.
In
particular
it
will
use
pharmacologic
probes
of
the
NMDA
system
to
explore
NMDA/DA
interactions
in
the
ventral
striatum
in
a
series
of
fMRI
tasks
related
to
reward
to
assess
the...
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Glutamate-opioid interactions in alcohol drinking behaviors
Principal Investigator: Dr. Suchitra Krishnan-Sarin.
This
project
extends
hypotheses
from
Projects
1-3
and
builds
on
exciting
preliminary
findings
from
prior
CTNA
projects
using
our
alcohol
self-administration
paradigm.
In
CTNA-1,
we
observed
that
naltrexone
reduced
drinking
in
drinkers
with
a
family
history
of
alcoholism
(FHP),
but
not
in
family-history
negative
(FHN)...
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