Hunger Recruits a Parallel Circuit Encoding Alcohol Reward.

ABSTRACT: Internal states like hunger, pain, thirst and arousal can bias behavior by affecting sensory and memory processing. Internal states are critical to understand in the context of alcohol addiction because they influence cravings, reinstatement, and relapse. Norepinephrine plays a key role in both hunger and alcohol-induced arousal and preference, but the circuit-level mechanisms through which it modulates the influence of hunger on alcohol preference are not well understood. We sought to address this using intersectional genetic tools for manipulating neurons expressing octopamine, the invertebrate analogue of vertebrate norepinephrine. We identified a single octopamine neuron required for ethanol seeking only when Drosophila are food-deprived. Hunger increased baseline activity in th

SUBMITTER: Nunez KM 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12632802 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature