Evidence map›Paper›PMID 32494694›Full record

ArticleScience advances2020

A persistent alcohol cue memory trace drives relapse to alcohol seeking after prolonged abstinence.

Esther Visser, Mariana R Matos, Rolinka J van der Loo, Nathan J Marchant, Taco J de Vries, August B Smit, Michel C van den Oever

Abstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Science advances, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 28 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
28citing papers in PubMed, 1 pooled it
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

28 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.

  1. Pooled it
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  13. To indulge or enrich: how environmental enrichment affects neurons that promote food seeking.Neuropsychopharmacology : official publication of the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology · 2025
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  14. Prelimbic cortical excitatory overdrive and inhibitory underdrive accompany environmental suppression of food seeking.Neuropsychopharmacology : official publication of the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology · 2025
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4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

7 authors.

Esther VisserDepartment of Molecular and Cellular Neurobiology, Center for Neurogenomics and Cognitive Research, Amsterdam Neuroscience, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, 1081 HV, Netherlands.ORCID 0000-0002-7799-1784
Mariana R MatosDepartment of Molecular and Cellular Neurobiology, Center for Neurogenomics and Cognitive Research, Amsterdam Neuroscience, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, 1081 HV, Netherlands.
Rolinka J van der LooDepartment of Molecular and Cellular Neurobiology, Center for Neurogenomics and Cognitive Research, Amsterdam Neuroscience, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, 1081 HV, Netherlands.
Nathan J MarchantDepartment of Anatomy and Neurosciences, Amsterdam Neuroscience, Amsterdam UMC, Location VUmc, 1081 HZ, Netherlands.ORCID 0000-0001-8269-0532
Taco J de VriesDepartment of Molecular and Cellular Neurobiology, Center for Neurogenomics and Cognitive Research, Amsterdam Neuroscience, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, 1081 HV, Netherlands.ORCID 0000-0002-0340-4946
August B SmitDepartment of Molecular and Cellular Neurobiology, Center for Neurogenomics and Cognitive Research, Amsterdam Neuroscience, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, 1081 HV, Netherlands.ORCID 0000-0002-2286-1587
Michel C van den OeverDepartment of Molecular and Cellular Neurobiology, Center for Neurogenomics and Cognitive Research, Amsterdam Neuroscience, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, 1081 HV, Netherlands.ORCID 0000-0001-5523-8612

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Alcohol use disorder is characterized by a high risk of relapse during periods of abstinence. Relapse is often triggered by retrieval of persistent alcohol memories upon exposure to alcohol-associated environmental cues, but little is known about the neuronal circuitry that supports the long-term storage of alcohol cue associations. We found that a small ensemble of neurons in the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) of mice was activated during cue-paired alcohol self-administration (SA) and that selective suppression of these neurons 1 month later attenuated cue-induced relapse to alcohol seeking. Inhibition of alcohol seeking was specific to these neurons as suppression of a non-alcohol-related or sucrose SA-activated mPFC ensemble did not affect relapse behavior. Hence, the mPFC neuronal ensemble activated during cue-paired alcohol consumption functions as a lasting memory trace that mediates cue-evoked relapse long after cessation of alcohol intake, thereby providing a potential target for treatment of alcohol relapse vulnerability.

Identifiers

PMID32494694
PMCPMC7202866

What OpenQuestion holds

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Registered trials

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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.