Imaging Adaptive Microglia Processes in Alcohol Drinking

Acute alcohol triggers dynamic immune responses in the brain. Preclinical reports examining these effects are highly mixed depending on species, dose, alcohol chronicity, and timing. It is important to characterize adaptive microglia processes during repeated alcohol exposures because innate neuroimmune factors are linked with escalating alcohol drinking. This project proposes to validate use of a PET radiotracer specific for the colony stimulating factor 1 receptor (CSF1R) in the context of an acute alcohol challenge. Confirmation of these properties will provide a key tool for the second phase. This imaging tool will then be used to measure acute immune response to alcohol in a preclinical model during chronic alcohol self-administration. The findings will advance the field by providing a new imaging tool ripe for translation to human studies while testing important hypotheses regarding dynamic microglia processes from alcohol exposure and their effects on drinking behaviors. This project is funded by R21/R33AA030380 (PI: Hillmer)