mPFC Recruitment During Self-Administration of Quinine Adulterated Alcohol

Abstract

Alcohol Use Disorder (AUD) is defined by a variety of addictive behaviors, many stemming from complex neural circuits that are not yet fully understood. Compulsive alcohol consumption, and subsequent aversion resistance, is a specific phenomenon that has been studied to determine the involvement of different brain regions in the display of this behavior. The medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) is a brain region that is involved in compulsive drinking and aversion resistance, however the circuitry recruiting the mPFC develops questions of how different aversive stimuli affect activation of the region. To study the recruitment of the mPFC, a self-administration model of alcohol consumption using Long Evans rats and the employment of quinine-adulterated 15% ethanol was used. This model was then paired with subsequent immunohistochemistry and imaging to quantify neural activity through the presence of c-Fos, an immediate-early gene used as an indicator of brain activity. Quantification of c-Fos positive neurons in rats given quinine-adulterated ethanol showed increased variation of mPFC recruitment compared to rats that received regular ethanol. Additionally, there were upward trends recorded between ethanol consumption and c-Fos positive cell counts, with total reward counts from self-administration of ethanol coinciding with increased activation of the mPFC. Future studies may revisit the concept of mPFC activation, but rather look into different neuronal populations that are recruited and whether or not quinine is an adequate aversion resistance stimulus.