Sex differences in nucleus accumbens core circuitry engaged by binge-like ethanol drinking.

ABSTRACT: Growing parity in Alcohol Use Disorder (AUD) diagnoses in men and women necessitates consideration of sex as a biological variable. In humans and rodents, the nucleus accumbens core (NAcc) regulates alcohol binge drinking, a risk factor for developing AUD. We labeled NAcc inputs with a viral retrograde tracer and quantified whole-brain c-Fos to determine the regions and NAcc inputs differentially engaged in male and female mice during binge-like ethanol drinking. We found that binge-like ethanol drinking females had 129 brain areas with greater c-Fos than males. Moreover, ethanol engaged more NAcc inputs in binge-like ethanol drinking females (as compared with males), including GABAergic and glutamatergic inputs. Relative to water controls, ethanol increased network modularity and decrease

SUBMITTER: Chan AE 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11370393 | biostudies-literature | 2024 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature