Award
National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism 1F32AA032415-01
Cell-type specific control of alcohol-associated behavior in the striatum
Recipient
Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN
Award Amount
$78,222.00
Ceiling
$78,222.00
Awarded
July 25, 2025
Identifier
1F32AA032415-01
Research project funded by NIAAA to study neural mechanisms of alcohol-associated cues and their changes due to chronic alcohol exposure, aiming to improve treatment for Alcohol Use Disorder.
Description
This project aims to elucidate the neural mechanisms underlying cue-alcohol associations and how they are changed by chronic alcohol exposure and abstinence. It utilizes microendoscopes to visualize single-cell activity dynamics of D2 MSNs in the nucleus accumbens during operant alcohol self-administration, and electrophysiology to measure circuit adaptations. The research seeks to provide foundational expertise and conceptual understanding to address how long-term alcohol exposure changes the brain and drives continued alcohol use, ultimately informing more effective treatment interventions for Alcohol Use Disorder (AUD).