ArticleBrain, behavior, and immunity2020
Role of toll-like receptor 7 (TLR7) in voluntary alcohol consumption.
Article in Brain, behavior, and immunity, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 25 papers.
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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.
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Who cites it
25 citing papers in PubMed, 30 citations in OpenAlex.
- Sex differences in alcohol-induced transcriptional changes in the nucleus accumbens depend on sex chromosome complement and gonadal type.Research square · 2026Article
- Repeated TLR7 activation induces cell type- and brain region-specific transcriptome changes in male mice.Scientific reports · 2026Article
- EFFECTS OF TOLL-LIKE RECEPTOR 3 - DEPENDENT IMMUNE ACTIVATION IN MICE ARE SEX- AND TISSUE- SPECIFIC: IMPLICATIONS FOR ALCOHOL USE DISORDER.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2026Article
- INTERFERON-REGULATORY FACTOR 7: A NEUROIMMUNE ROLE FOR VAPOR-INDUCED ESCALATIONS IN ETHANOL SELF-ADMINISTRATION.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2026Article
- Integrative Genomics Approach Identifies Glial Transcriptomic Dysregulation and Risk in the Cortex of Individuals With Alcohol Use Disorder.Biological psychiatry · 2026Article
- Alcohol dependence-induced astrocyte immune activation in the nucleus accumbens.Neurobiology of disease · 2025Article
- Alcohol Dependence-Induced Astrocyte Immune Activation in the Nucleus Accumbens.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2025Article
- Alcohol Use Disorder and the Gut-Brain Axis: A Narrative Review of the Role of Gut Microbiota and Implications for Treatment.Microorganisms · 2025Review
- Severe alcohol use and COVID-19: implications for physical and mental health.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2025Review
- Toll-like receptor 7: A novel neuroimmune target to reduce excessive alcohol consumption.Neurobiology of stress · 2024Article
- From Immunity to Neurogenesis: Toll-like Receptors as Versatile Regulators in the Nervous System.International journal of molecular sciences · 2024Review
- Transcriptome changes in the nucleus of the solitary tract induced by repeated stress, alcohol dependence, or stress-induced drinking in dependent mice.Neuropharmacology · 2024Article
- Epigenetic regulation of microglia and neurons by proinflammatory signaling following adolescent intermittent ethanol (AIE) exposure and in human AUD.Advances in drug and alcohol research · 2024Review
- Sex-dependent factors of alcohol and neuroimmune mechanisms.Neurobiology of stress · 2023Article
- Review
- Cues associated with repeated ethanol exposure facilitate the corticosterone response to ethanol and immunological challenges in adult male Sprague Dawley rats: implications for neuroimmune regulation.The American journal of drug and alcohol abuse · 2023Article
- Heat-KilledNutrients · 2023Article
- Neuroimmune pathways as targets to reduce alcohol consumption.Pharmacology, biochemistry, and behavior · 2023Article
- The Toll-like receptor 7 agonist imiquimod increases ethanol self-administration and induces expression of Toll-like receptor related genes.Addiction biology · 2022Article
- Increased alcohol self-administration following repeated Toll-like receptor 3 agonist treatment in male and female rats.Pharmacology, biochemistry, and behavior · 2022Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
8 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
Overactivation of neuroimmune signaling has been linked to excessive ethanol consumption. Toll-like receptors (TLRs) are a major component of innate immune signaling and initiate anti- and pro-inflammatory responses via intracellular signal transduction cascades. TLR7 is upregulated in post-mortem brain tissue from humans with alcohol use disorder (AUD) and animals with prior exposure to ethanol. Despite this evidence, the role of TLR7 in the regulation of voluntary ethanol consumption has not been studied. We test the hypothesis that TLR7 activation regulates voluntary ethanol drinking behavior by administering a TLR7 agonist (R848) during an intermittent access drinking procedure in mice. Acute activation of TLR7 reduced ethanol intake, preference, and total fluid intake due, at least in part, to an acute sickness response. However, chronic pre-treatment with R848 resulted in tolerance to the adverse effects of the drug and a subsequent increase in ethanol consumption. To determine the molecular machinery that mediates these behavioral changes, we evaluated gene expression after acute and chronic TLR7 activation. We found that acute TLR7 activation produces brain region specific changes in expression of immune pathway genes, whereas chronic TLR7 activation causes downregulation of TLRs and blunted cytokine induction, suggesting molecular tolerance. Our results demonstrate a novel role for TLR7 signaling in regulating voluntary ethanol consumption. Taken together, our findings suggest TLR7 may be a viable target for development of therapies to treat AUD.
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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.