Cited by 48Neurotransmitter Receptor Influence on BehaviorNeural and Behavioral Psychology StudiesSubstance Abuse Treatment and Outcomes

Adolescent Alcohol Exposure Amplifies the Incentive Value of Reward-Predictive Cues Through Potentiation of Phasic Dopamine Signaling

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Spoelder, Marcia, Tsutsui, Kimberly T, Lesscher, Heidi M B, Vanderschuren, Louk J M J, Clark, Jeremy J·2015·Neuropsychopharmacology

Abstract

Adolescent alcohol use remains a major public health concern due in part to well-established findings implicating the age of onset in alcohol use in the development of alcohol use disorders and persistent decision-making deficits in adults. We have previously demonstrated that moderate adolescent alcohol consumption in rats promotes suboptimal decision making and an associated perturbation in mesolimbic dopamine transmission in adulthood. Dopamine-dependent incentive learning processes are an integral component of value-based decision making and a fundamental element to many theoretical accounts of addiction. Thus we tested the hypothesis that adolescent alcohol use selectively alters incentive learning processes through perturbation of mesolimbic dopamine systems. To assess incentive learning, behavioral and neurochemical measurements were made during the acquisition, maintenance, extinction, and reacquisition of a Pavlovian conditioned approach procedure in adult rats with a history of adolescent alcohol consumption. We show that moderate adolescent alcohol consumption potentiates stimulus-evoked phasic dopamine transmission, measured in vivo by fast-scan cyclic voltammetry, in adulthood and biases individuals toward a dopamine-dependent incentive learning strategy. Moreover, we demonstrate that animals exposed to alcohol in adolescence are more sensitive to an unexpected variation in reward outcomes. This pattern of phasic dopamine signaling and the associated bias in learning may provide a mechanism for the well-documented vulnerability of individuals with early-life alcohol use for alcohol use disorders in adulthood.

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Authors
Spoelder, M., Tsutsui, K. T., Lesscher, H. M. B., Vanderschuren, L. J. M. J., & Clark, J. J.
Affiliations
  • Utrecht University (NL)
  • University of Washington (US)
Corresponding author
Clark, Jeremy J
Venue
Neuropsychopharmacology
Published
2015-05-14
Volume
40
Issue
13
Pages
2873-2885
ISSN
  • 0893-133X (ISSN-L)
  • 1740-634X
OpenAlex
W1556222190
Cited by
48
References
75
Citations by year
2025: 1 · 2024: 4 · 2023: 2 · 2022: 2 · 2021: 6 · 2020: 3 · 2019: 8 · 2018: 8 · 2017: 5 · 2016: 7 · 2015: 2
FWCI
3.40
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Locations
  • Neuropsychopharmacology (publishedVersion)
  • Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed Central (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • Utrecht University Repository (Utrecht University) (submittedVersion, other-oa)
Funders
  • Universiteit Utrecht
  • National Institutes of Health
  • National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (U01AA024599, R01AA021121)
Topics
  • Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cellular and Molecular Neuroscience › Neurotransmitter Receptor Influence on Behavior
  • Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Neural and Behavioral Psychology Studies
  • Health Sciences › Medicine › Epidemiology › Substance Abuse Treatment and Outcomes
Keywords
adolescent alcohol exposure, incentive learning, mesolimbic dopamine system, Pavlovian conditioned approach, reward prediction, value-based decision making, alcoholism, reacquisition
MeSH terms
Underage Drinking, Ethanol, Animals, Central Nervous System Depressants, Conditioning, Classical, Cues, Disease Models, Animal, Dopamine, Electrodes, Implanted, Extinction, Psychological, Male, Nucleus Accumbens, Reward, Rats, Sprague-Dawley, Anticipation, Psychological

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