Ethanol Action on Neural Networks Studied with Multineuron Recording in Freely Moving Animals

• Published in: Alcoholism, clinical and experimental research Vol. 22; no. 1; pp. 10 - 22
• Main Authors: Woodward, Donald J., Janak, Patricia H., Chang, Jing-Yu
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Oxford, UK Blackwell Publishing Ltd 01.02.1998
• Subjects: Addiction; Alcoholism - physiopathology; Animals; Brain Mapping; Cerebral Cortex - drug effects; Cerebral Cortex - physiopathology; Electrophysiology; Ensemble; Ethanol - pharmacology; Limbic System - drug effects; Limbic System - physiopathology; Mesencephalon - drug effects; Mesencephalon - physiopathology; Nerve Net - drug effects; Nerve Net - physiopathology; Neurons - drug effects; Neurons - physiology; Rats; Recording Techniques; Self-Administration; Synaptic Transmission - drug effects; Synaptic Transmission - physiology
• ISSN: 0145-6008; 1530-0277
• DOI: 10.1111/j.1530-0277.1998.tb03612.x

The advent of new chronic multineuron recording techniques for examining neural activity in behaving animals has initiated a new phase in the analysis of the neuronal mechanisms that underlie ethanol and other drug self‐administration. The technique allows for the simultaneous recording of groups of individual neurons in one or more brain regions during ongoing behavior; therefore, the spatiotemporal patterns of neuronal activity during specific behavioral events can be determined. We have successfully applied this technique to rat models of cocaine and heroin self‐administration. Recently, using rats, we have been able to record from neurons in areas of the mesocorticolimbic circuit during ethanol‐reinforced operant responding. In this review, we describe the current and future application of this new behavioral neurophysiology to the investigation of the neurobiology of alcohol addiction.