Figure 1. A sagittal representation of subcortical structures and their circuitry related to different stages during the transition from low-level drinking to heavy alcohol use.

Regions of interest in red indicate involvement in heavy drinking, yellow in episodic drinking, and green in lower-level drinking. Known connections start with the black circle and finish with the black arrowhead. Animal drinking protocols are depicted in blue italics. ACC, anterior cingulate cortex; BLA, basolateral amygdala; BNST, bed nucleus of the stria terminalis; CeA, central amygdala; HIPP, hippocampus; NAc, nucleus accumbens; PFC, prefrontal cortex; VTA, ventral tegmental area.