Grant: Operating Grant

Remaining sober is a significant problem faced by treatment-seeking alcoholics. Relapse rates are high, and the factors that provoke relapse are poorly understood. Clinical research suggests that relapse can be facilitated by craving for alcohol, which is a conditioned response elicited by cues in the environment that signal alcohol availability. A better understanding of the psychological and biological processes that control responses elicited by alcohol-predictive cues would undoubtedly benefit treatment strategies aimed at preventing relapse. To this end, we use animal models to study the behavioural and neural mechanisms that mediate the formation and expression of learned associations between environmental stimuli and alcohol. On the basis of our prior research, we propose that glutamate in the basolateral amygdala is critical for the expression of alcohol-seeking behaviour elicited by Pavlovian alcohol cues. To test this hypothesis we will use established neuropharmacological techniques to comprehensively investigate the contribution of glutamate receptors in the basolateral amygdala to cue-induced, alcohol-seeking behaviour. We will also use cutting-edge optogenetic tools to study how afferent projections from the prefrontal cortex and ventral hippocampus to the basolateral amygdala mediate responses elicited by Pavlovian alcohol cues. By pinpointing the neurobiological mechanisms that control responding to alcohol cues, we hope to arrive at a better understanding of how to prevent the capacity of alcohol cues to induced relapse.