ArticleProceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America2014
Hampered long-term depression and thin spine loss in the nucleus accumbens of ethanol-dependent rats.
Article in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 2014. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 62 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
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Who cites it
62 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 97 citations in OpenAlex.
- A systematic review and meta-analysis on the transcriptomic signatures in alcohol use disorder.Molecular psychiatry · 2025Pooled it
- Substance use and spine density: a systematic review and meta-analysis of preclinical studies.Molecular psychiatry · 2024Pooled it
- The neuroimmune-glutamate hypothesis of addiction.Neuroscience and biobehavioral reviews · 2026Review
- Alcohol dependence-induced astrocyte immune activation in the nucleus accumbens.Neurobiology of disease · 2025Article
- Alcohol addiction and Alzheimer's disease: a molecular collision course.Translational psychiatry · 2025Review
- Alcohol Dependence-Induced Astrocyte Immune Activation in the Nucleus Accumbens.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2025Article
- Environmental enrichment improves deficits in hippocampal neuroplasticity and cognition in prenatally aripiprazole-exposed mouse offspring.Translational psychiatry · 2025Article
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- Aging in nucleus accumbens and its impact on alcohol use disorders.Alcohol (Fayetteville, N.Y.) · 2023Review
- Changes in Dendritic Spine Morphology and Density of Granule Cells in the Olfactory Bulb ofBiology · 2022Article
- Non-Apoptotic Caspase-3 Activation Mediates Early Synaptic Dysfunction of Indirect Pathway Neurons in the Parkinsonian Striatum.International journal of molecular sciences · 2022Article
- Moderate ethanol drinking is sufficient to alter Ventral Tegmental Area dopamine neurons activity via functional and structural remodeling of GABAergic transmission.Neuropharmacology · 2022Article
- Alcohol binge drinking in adolescence and psychological profile: Can the preclinical model crack the chicken-or-egg question?Frontiers in psychiatry · 2022Article
- Adaptation of the 5-choice serial reaction time task to measure engagement and motivation for alcohol in mice.Frontiers in behavioral neuroscience · 2022Article
- Activity-State Dependent Reversal of Ketamine-Induced Resting State EEG Effects by Clozapine and Naltrexone in the Freely Moving Rat.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2022Article
- Framework for internal sensation of pleasure using constraints from disparate findings in nucleus accumbens.World journal of psychiatry · 2021Article
- Binge-like Alcohol Exposure in Adolescence: Behavioural, Neuroendocrine and Molecular Evidence of Abnormal Neuroplasticity… and Return.Biomedicines · 2021Article
- CCL2/CCR2 Contributes to the Altered Excitatory-inhibitory Synaptic Balance in the Nucleus Accumbens Shell Following Peripheral Nerve Injury-induced Neuropathic Pain.Neuroscience bulletin · 2021Article
- Impairment of Synaptic Plasticity by Cannabis, ΔCold Spring Harbor perspectives in medicine · 2021Review
2 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
11 authors at 4 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Alcoholism involves long-term cognitive deficits, including memory impairment, resulting in substantial cost to society. Neuronal refinement and stabilization are hypothesized to confer resilience to poor decision making and addictive-like behaviors, such as excessive ethanol drinking and dependence. Accordingly, structural abnormalities are likely to contribute to synaptic dysfunctions that occur from suddenly ceasing the use of alcohol after chronic ingestion. Here we show that ethanol-dependent rats display a loss of dendritic spines in medium spiny neurons of the nucleus accumbens (Nacc) shell, accompanied by a reduction of tyrosine hydroxylase immunostaining and postsynaptic density 95-positive elements. Further analysis indicates that "long thin" but not "mushroom" spines are selectively affected. In addition, patch-clamp experiments from Nacc slices reveal that long-term depression (LTD) formation is hampered, with parallel changes in field potential recordings and reductions in NMDA-mediated synaptic currents. These changes are restricted to the withdrawal phase of ethanol dependence, suggesting their relevance in the genesis of signs and/or symptoms affecting ethanol withdrawal and thus the whole addictive cycle. Overall, these results highlight the key role of dynamic alterations in dendritic spines and their presynaptic afferents in the evolution of alcohol dependence. Furthermore, they suggest that the selective loss of long thin spines together with a reduced NMDA receptor function may affect learning. Disruption of this LTD could contribute to the rigid emotional and motivational state observed in alcohol dependence.
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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.