ArticleSynapse (New York, N.Y.)2011
The role of connexin-36 gap junctions in alcohol intoxication and consumption.
Article in Synapse (New York, N.Y.), 2011. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 27 papers.
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Who cites it
27 citing papers in PubMed, 57 citations in OpenAlex.
- The role of lymphocytic CD5 in the effects of ethanol on mesolimbic circuitry and ethanol consumption behavior.Brain, behavior, and immunity · 2026Article
- Monocyte-Derived Macrophages Expressing Dopamine D2-Subtype Receptors Drive Alcohol Effects on Mesolimbic Neurons and Microglia.Biomedicines · 2025Article
- Role of α6-Nicotinic Receptors in Alcohol-Induced GABAergic Synaptic Transmission and Plasticity to Cholinergic Interneurons in the Nucleus Accumbens.Molecular neurobiology · 2023Article
- Alcohol Use Disorder: Neurobiology and Therapeutics.Biomedicines · 2022Review
- The peripheral dopamine 2 receptor antagonist domperidone attenuates ethanol enhancement of dopamine levels in the nucleus accumbens.Alcoholism, clinical and experimental research · 2022Article
- Inhibition of Connexin 36 attenuates HMGB1-mediated depressive-like behaviors induced by chronic unpredictable mild stress.Brain and behavior · 2022Article
- Modulation of dopamine release by ethanol is mediated by atypical GABAAddiction biology · 2022Article
- Identifying a novel biological mechanism for alcohol addiction associated with circRNA networks acting as potential miRNA sponges.Addiction biology · 2021Article
- Article
- Glutamate Transmission to Ventral Tegmental Area GABA Neurons Is Altered by Acute and Chronic Ethanol.Alcoholism, clinical and experimental research · 2018Article
- α6 subunit-containing nicotinic receptors mediate low-dose ethanol effects on ventral tegmental area neurons and ethanol reward.Addiction biology · 2018Article
- Ventral Tegmental Area GABA Neurons Are Resistant to GABA(A) Receptor-Mediated Inhibition During Ethanol Withdrawal.Frontiers in neuroscience · 2018Article
- Arousal and drug abuse.Behavioural brain research · 2017Review
- Drunken Membranes: Short-Chain Alcohols Alter Fusion of Liposomes to Planar Lipid Bilayers.Biophysical journal · 2017Article
- Prolonged Neuropsychiatric Symptoms in a Military Service Member Exposed to Mefloquine.Drug safety - case reports · 2016Article
- The Role of Dopamine and Its Dysfunction as a Consequence of Oxidative Stress.Oxidative medicine and cellular longevity · 2016Review
- Genes and Alcohol Consumption: Studies with Mutant Mice.International review of neurobiology · 2016Review
- Review
- BDNF signaling in the VTA links the drug-dependent state to drug withdrawal aversions.The Journal of neuroscience : the official journal of the Society for Neuroscience · 2014Article
- Myristic acid produces anxiolytic-like effects in Wistar rats in the elevated plus maze.BioMed research international · 2014Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
8 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
Ventral tegmental area (VTA) GABA neurons appear to be critical substrates underlying the acute and chronic effects of ethanol on dopamine (DA) neurotransmission in the mesocorticolimbic system implicated in alcohol reward. The aim of this study was to examine the role of midbrain connexin-36 (Cx36) gap junctions (GJs) in ethanol intoxication and consumption. Using behavioral, molecular, and electrophysiological methods, we compared the effects of ethanol in mature Cx36 knockout (KO) mice and age-matched wild-type (WT) controls. Compared to WT mice, Cx36 KO mice exhibited significantly more ethanol-induced motor impairment in the open field test, but less disruption in motor coordination in the rotarod paradigm. Cx36 KO mice, and WT mice treated with the Cx36 antagonist mefloquine (MFQ), consumed significantly less ethanol than their WT controls in the drink-in-the-dark procedure. The firing rate of VTA GABA neurons in WT mice was inhibited by ethanol with an IC₅₀ of 0.25 g/kg, while VTA GABA neurons in KO mice were significantly less sensitive to ethanol. Dopamine neuron GABA-mediated sIPSC frequency was reduced by ethanol (30 mM) in WT mice, but not affected in KO mice. Cx36 KO mice evinced a significant up-regulation in DAT and D2 receptors in the VTA, as assessed by quantitative RT-PCR. These findings demonstrate the behavioral relevance of Cx36 GJ-mediated electrical coupling between GABA neurons in mature animals, and suggest that loss of coupling between VTA GABA neurons results in disinhibition of DA neurons, a hyper-DAergic state and lowered hedonic valence for ethanol consumption.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.