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Glutamate And Gaba Receptor-Mediated Plasticity In The Mesolimbic Dopamine System By Alcohol, Ashley Cerise Nelson
Glutamate And Gaba Receptor-Mediated Plasticity In The Mesolimbic Dopamine System By Alcohol, Ashley Cerise Nelson
Theses and Dissertations
Alcoholism is a devastating chronic relapsing disorder with significant costs to individuals and society. The mesolimbic dopamine (DA) system plays an important role in regulating reward and addiction. GABA neurons located in the ventral tegmental area (VTA) regulate VTA DA neuron activity, and are a relevant target for alcohol in the brain. VTA GABA neurons exhibit marked hyperexcitability during withdrawal from ethanol. Past research has demonstrated that the motivational effects of opiates cause a change in VTA GABA(A) receptors in opiate-dependent animals, which switch from a GABA-induced hyperpolarization of GABA neurons to a GABA-induced depolarization. The focus of this study …