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This Article Full Text Full Text (PDF) All Versions of this Article: 294/5/R1482    most recent 00708.2007v1 Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Citation Map Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Google Scholar Articles by Sanbe, A. Articles by Tanoue, A. PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by Sanbe, A. Articles by Tanoue, A.

GENETICALLY MODIFIED ANIMALS AND MODEL ORGANISMS

Alcohol preference in mice lacking the Avpr1a vasopressin receptor

¹Department of Pharmacology, National Research Institute for Child Health and Development, Tokyo, Japan; ²Department of Pharmacology, Tokyo University of Pharmacy and Life Science, Tokyo, Japan; ³Department of Genomic Drug Discovery Science, Graduate School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Kyoto University, Kyoto, Japan

Submitted 2 October 2007 ; accepted in final form 20 February 2008

[Arg⁸]-vasopressin (Avp), a nonapeptide hormone, is known to regulate blood pressure, water balance, and a variety of behaviors such as anxiety, aggression, and bonding. Although some evidence that Avp modifies ethanol consumption and some of the effects of ethanol on behavior have been reported, the role of Avp in alcohol consumption and preference is poorly understood. The Avp1a receptor (Avpr1a) is ubiquitously expressed in the central nervous system. To determine the role of Avp signaling on the behavioral effects of alcohol, we examined voluntary ethanol consumption in mice with targeted disruptions of the Avpr1a knockout (Avpr1a KO) gene. Avpr1a KO mice displayed both increased ethanol consumption and preference compared with wild-type (WT) mice. Enhanced ethanol consumption was dramatically and reversibly reduced by treatment with N-methyl-D-aspartic acid antagonists. Basal glutamate release was elevated around the striatum in Avpr1a KO mice. Elevation of extracellular glutamate was also produced in WT mice by local application of an Avpr1a antagonist though a dialysis probe, and this elevation was quickly reversed by stopping the perfusion. These results suggest that Avp can inhibit the release of glutamate from the presynaptic terminal via the Avp1a receptor and that elevation of glutamate levels owing to loss of the inhibitory effect via Avp-Avpr1a signaling may play an important role in the preference for ethanol.

[Arg⁸]-vasopressin