Ethanol self-administration targets GluA2-containing AMPA receptor expression and synaptic activity in the nucleus accumbens in a manner that drives the positive reinforcing properties of the drug.

Rationale: The positive reinforcing effects of alcohol (ethanol) drive repetitive use and contribute to alcohol use disorder (AUD). Ethanol alters the expression of glutamate AMPA receptor (AMPAR) subunits in reward-related brain regions, but the extent to which this effect regulates ethanol's reinforcing properties is unclear.

Objective: This study investigates whether ethanol self-administration changes AMPAR subunit expression and synaptic activity in the nucleus accumbens core (AcbC) to regulate ethanol's reinforcing effects in male C57BL/6 J mice.

Food cravings are associated with increased self-regulation, even in the face of strong instigation habits: A longitudinal study of the transition to plant-based eating.

Frequently engaging in a positive health behaviour, like following a vegetarian or vegan (veg*n) diet, can bring benefits to both the individual and society. We investigated the roles of two psychological determinants of behaviour-instigation habits and self-regulation strategy use-in a cohort of individuals who were newly transitioning to a veg*n diet. In a longitudinal study over 6 months (7 waves including baseline), 222 individuals transitioning to a veg*n diet reported their monthly habit strength, craving frequency, self-regulation strategies and animal product consumption.

Ventral tegmental area GABA neurons integrate positive and negative valence.

Ventral tegmental area (VTA) dopamine (DA) neurons are classically linked to Pavlovian reward learning and reinforcement. Intermingled VTA GABA neurons are positioned to regulate dopaminergic and striatal systems, but we lack critical insight into how this population contributes to conditioned motivation in different learning contexts. Recording DA and GABA neurons across multiple conditioning paradigms, we found that GABA neurons not only actively encode appetitive and aversive cues and outcomes separately, but uniquely integrate salient events of both valences to guide reward seeking.

Efficacy of caffeine as an ergogenic aid in multiple cycling time trials.

Introduction: Evidence that caffeine supplementation is effective to improve performance in cycling time trials has been obtained in single rather than multiple time trials. We investigated whether 5 mg.kg of caffeine enhanced performance in multiple 4 km cycling time trials (TT4km) conducted within the same day and across different days.

Pavlovian cue-evoked alcohol seeking is disrupted by ventral pallidal inhibition.

Cues paired with alcohol can be potent drivers of craving, alcohol-seeking, consumption, and relapse. While the ventral pallidum is implicated in appetitive and consummatory responses across several reward classes and types of behaviors, its role in behavioral responses to Pavlovian alcohol cues has not previously been established. Here, we tested the impact of optogenetic inhibition of ventral pallidum on Pavlovian-conditioned alcohol-seeking in male Long Evans rats.