Chronic ethanol exposure produces sex-dependent impairments in value computations in the striatum.

ABSTRACT: Value-based decision-making relies on the striatum, where neural plasticity can be altered by chronic ethanol (EtOH) exposure, but the effects of such plasticity on striatal neural dynamics during decision-making remain unclear. This study investigated the long-term impacts of EtOH on reward-driven decision-making and striatal neurocomputations in male and female rats using a dynamic probabilistic reversal learning task. Following a prolonged withdrawal period, EtOH-exposed male rats exhibited deficits in adaptability and exploratory behavior, with aberrant outcome-driven value updating that heightened preference for chosen action. These behavioral changes were linked to altered neural activity in the dorsomedial striatum (DMS), where EtOH increased outcome-related encoding and decreased c

SUBMITTER: Cheng Y 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11963993 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature