Journal
BEHAVIOURAL BRAIN RESEARCH
Volume 421, Issue -, Pages -Publisher
ELSEVIER
DOI: 10.1016/j.bbr.2021.113726
Keywords
Alcohol; Cocaine; D-Amphetamine; Ghrelin; Glucagon-like-peptide-1; Mesolimbic; Ventral tegmental area; Voluntary ethanol intake; Reward
Categories
Funding
- Stillman-Drake Fund of Reed College (USA)
- Reed College Science Research Fellowship
- Reed College Neuroscience Fellowship
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This study investigated the effects of ghrelin and glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) on ethanol intake and their interaction with d-amphetamine and cocaine in rats. The results showed that ghrelin increased ethanol intake and potentiated the effects of d-amphetamine and cocaine, while GLP-1 inhibited ethanol intake and antagonized the effects of d-amphetamine and cocaine.
In order to further elucidate the role of mesolimbic peptides in the expression of ethanol reward, the present study investigated the effects of ghrelin and glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) on ethanol intake, in addition to ethanol intake stimulated by systemic d-amphetamine or cocaine treatment. While a number of studies suggest that ghrelin plays an important role in mesolimbic reward, emerging data now indicate that GLP-1 receptor mechanisms inhibit reward signaling, possibly by directly or indirectly inhibiting ghrelinergic activity within the mesolimbic system. In the present study all rats were initially habituated to a 6% ethanol solution. We then demonstrated that intraperitoneal injections of D-amphetamine and cocaine increased ethanol intake compared to the vehicle condition. In subsequent testing we examined the effects of ventral tegmental area (VTA) ghrelin or vehicle paired with a fixed dose of D-amphetamine or vehicle. In separate rats we then investigated the impact of the GLP-1 agonist exendin-4 (Ex-4), injected into the VTA, on ethanol intake alone, or when Ex-4 was co-administered with D-amphetamine or cocaine. Our results indicated that VTA ghrelin significantly increased ethanol intake, and most importantly, potentiated the effect of D-amphetamine and cocaine on ethanol consumption. Conversely, VTA Ex-4 inhibited ethanol intake and antagonized the stimulatory effect of D-amphetamine and cocaine on ethanol consumption. In a final study we further demonstrated that VTA Ex-4 treatment significantly inhibited the combined stimulatory effects of ghrelin paired with d-amphetamine or ghrelin paired with cocaine. Overall our findings are consistent with a critical role for both ghrelin and GLP-1 receptor mechanisms in mesolimbic ethanol reward circuitry. Moreover, our results further suggest that ghrelin and GLP-1 modulate the stimulatory effect of psychostimulants on ethanol intake.
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