Retrieval of an ethanol-conditioned taste aversion promotes GABAergic plasticity in the anterior insular cortex.

Blunted sensitivity to ethanol's aversive effects can increase motivation to consume ethanol; yet, the neurobiological circuits responsible for encoding these aversive properties are not fully understood. Plasticity in cells projecting from the anterior insular cortex (aIC) to the basolateral amygdala (BLA) is critical for taste aversion learning and retrieval, suggesting this circuit's potential involvement in modulating the aversive properties of ethanol. Here, we tested the hypothesis that GABAergic currents onto aIC-BLA projections would be facilitated as a consequence of retrieval of an ethanol-conditioned taste aversion (CTA).