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. 2020 Dec 10;14:593860. doi: 10.3389/fnbeh.2020.593860

Figure 1.

Figure 1

Neural circuitry and dopamine receptor-containing cells are impacted by chronic alcohol intake in rodents. (A) Neural circuits impacted by chronic alcohol consumption. SN, substantia nigra; VTA, ventral tegmental area; vHPC and dHPC, ventral and dorsal hippocampus; Amyg, amygdala; DS, dorsal striatum; NAc, nucleus accumbens; PFC, prefrontal cortex; MSN, medium spiny neuron. (B,C) Schematics showing changes in cell-type-specific excitability following chronic alcohol consumption in D1R- and D2R-MSNs in striatum and D1R- and D2R-containing pyramidal neurons in PFC and HPC. (B) In dorsomedial striatum (DMS) and NAc, D1R-MSNs show enhanced excitability following chronic alcohol. Alcohol increases inhibition of D2R-MSNs in DMS and does not alter them in NAc; DLS, dorsolateral striatum. (C) In PFC, chronic alcohol reduces the excitability of pyramidal neurons with D1Rs and does not impact cells with D2Rs. (D) In vHPC, chronic alcohol leads to increased excitability of pyramidal neurons containing D1Rs and increased inhibition of pyramidal neurons with D2Rs.