Estrogen As a Regulator of Ethanol Reward and Drinking Behavior
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Ethanol and the Female Brain: Estrogen as a Regulator of Ethanol Reward and Drinking Behavior BY ELISA RACHEL HILDERBRAND B.A., Knox College, 2010 DISSERTATION Submitted as partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Neuroscience in the Graduate College of the University of Illinois at Chicago, 2020 Chicago, Illinois Defense Committee: Amy W. Lasek, Advisor David Wirtshafter, Chair Mark Brodie, Physiology & Biophysics Subhash Pandey, Psychiatry Jamie Roitman, Psychology TABLE OF CONTENTS CHAPTER PAGE 1. INTRODUCTION....................................................................................................................1 1.1. Alcohol Use Disorder (AUD) .............................................................................................1 1.2. Sex Differences in AUD………………………………………………………………. ....3 1.3. Sex Differences in Animal Models of AUD .......................................................................5 1.3.1. Operant Self-Administration ...................................................................................6 1.3.2. Conditioned Place Preference (CPP) .......................................................................8 1.3.3. Two-Bottle Choice Ethanol Consumption .............................................................10 1.4. Ovarian Hormones and AUD ...........................................................................................13 1.4.1. Human Studies .......................................................................................................14 1.4.2. Animal Studies.......................................................................................................15 1.5. The Ovarian Steroid Hormone 17β-Estradiol and Its Receptors ......................................17 1.5.1 Estrogen Biochemistry and Synthesis ....................................................................18 1.5.2 Estrogen Receptors .................................................................................................20 1.6. Neural Substrates of Reward and Their Regulation by Estradiol .....................................26 1.6.1. The Reward System ...............................................................................................27 1.6.2. Estradiol as a Reward Modulator ..........................................................................29 1.7. Summary and Project Overview .......................................................................................35 2. ESTRADIOL ENHANCES ETHANOL REWARD IN FEMALE MICE THROUGH ACTIVATION OF ERα AND ERβ .........................................................................................................................39 2.1. Introduction .......................................................................................................................39 2.2. Materials and Methods .....................................................................................................41 2.2.1. Experimental Animals ...........................................................................................41 2.2.2. Ovariectomy (OVX) ..............................................................................................42 2.2.3. Drug Treatments ....................................................................................................42 2.2.4. Behavioral Procedure .............................................................................................43 2.2.5. Ethanol Metabolism ...............................................................................................45 2.2.6. Lentiviral Construct ...............................................................................................45 2.2.7. Stereotaxic Injection of Virus ................................................................................46 2.2.8. Histology................................................................................................................46 2.2.9. Statistical Analysis.................................................................................................48 2.3. Results...............................................................................................................................48 2.3.1. Estradiol (E2) enhances ethanol CPP in OVX mice ..............................................48 2.3.2. E2 does not alter preference for the initially non-preferred Side of the CPP chamber in the absence of ethanol conditioning ....................................................49 2.3.3. E2 does not Alter the rate of ethanol metabolism in OVX mice ...........................50 2.3.4. Activation of ERα or ERβ individually is not sufficient to enhance ethanol CPP in OVX mice ..................................................................................................50 2.3.5. Activation of both ERα and ERβ enhances ethanol CPP in OVX mice ................51 2.3.6. Lentiviral infection may induce damage in the CeA .............................................51 2.4. Discussion .........................................................................................................................58 2.5. Acknowledgements ...........................................................................................................62 ii 3. VTA ESTROGEN RECEPTORS REGULATE BINGE-LIKE DRINKING IN GONADALLY INTACT FEMALE C57BL/6J MICE ........................................................................................................63 3.1. Introduction .......................................................................................................................63 3.2. Material and Methods .......................................................................................................65 3.2.1. Experimental Animals ...........................................................................................65 3.2.2. OVX .......................................................................................................................65 3.2.3. Drug Treatments ....................................................................................................66 3.2.4. Lentiviral Construct ...............................................................................................66 3.2.5. Stereotaxic Injection of Virus ................................................................................66 3.2.6. Vaginal Cytology ...................................................................................................67 3.2.7. Behavioral Procedure .............................................................................................68 3.2.8. Confirmation of Viral Placement and in vivo Knockdown Efficiency ..................69 3.2.9. Statistical Analysis.................................................................................................72 3.3. Results...............................................................................................................................72 3.3.1. Systemic treatment with PPT (an ERα agonist) suppresses fluid intake in OVX mice ..............................................................................................................72 3.3.2. Ventral Tegmental Area (VTA) ERα and ERβ regulate binge-like EtOH intake in female, but not male, mice ......................................................................73 3.3.3. Intra-VTA ER knockdown does not alter sucrose intake in female mice .............75 3.3.4. Viral vector expressing shEsr1 reduces ERα protein levels in male mouse VTA .......................................................................................................................76 3.3.5. qPCR analysis was not effective for measuring in vivo knockdown of viral constructs shEsr1-1785 and shEsr2-1089 in VTA tissue ......................................76 3.4. Discussion .........................................................................................................................82 3.5. Acknowledgements ...........................................................................................................85 4. ESTROGEN RECEPTORS REGULATE THE EXPRESSION OF GENES INVOLVED IN ETHANOL REWARD-RELATED BEHAVIORS IN THE AMYGDALA AND VENTRAL TEGMENTAL AREA ........86 4.1. Introduction .......................................................................................................................86 4.2. Material and Methods .......................................................................................................90 4.2.1. Experimental Animals ...........................................................................................90 4.2.2. Drug Treatments and Tissue Processing ................................................................91 4.2.3. RNA Extraction, cDNA Synthesis, and qPCR ......................................................93 4.2.4. Statistical Analysis.................................................................................................94 4.3. Results...............................................................................................................................94 4.3.1. E2 regulates gene expression in the amygdala ......................................................94 4.3.2. ER-selective agonists modulate Npy and Crh expression in the amygdala and VTA .......................................................................................................................96 4.4. Discussion .......................................................................................................................102