# The Role of Serotonin in Alcohol-Withdrawal Induced Anxiety

> **NIH NIH R01** · UNIV OF NORTH CAROLINA CHAPEL HILL · 2021 · $403,692

## Abstract

Abstract
Alcohol abuse is an enormous public health problem. While there have been significant gains in our knowledge
of this disorder, we lack fundamental knowledge pertaining to the biological mechanisms that contribute to the
chronic relapsing pathology of alcohol abuse. It has been hypothesized that alcohol exposure modifies function
in brain regions critical for regulation of emotion, and that these changes underlie persistent alterations in
behavior. The serotonin (5HT) system has been implicated in the pathophysiology of a range of psychiatric
conditions, most notably anxiety disorders and depression (two conditions co-morbid with alcohol use
disorders). Altered 5HT signaling has been suggested to contribute to cravings and relapses, as well as the
increased negative affective state, manifested as the anxiety-like behavior and dysphoria, associated with
alcohol abuse. In the previous submission, we found that chronic intermittent ethanol exposure drives changes
in 5HT systems in the BNST, one brain region linked with anxiety-like behavior. Additionally, we identified a
5HT sensitive micro-circuit in the BNST that regulates anxiety-like behavior. We propose here to use multiple
converging approaches to test the impact of alcohol exposure on discrete aspects of this 5HT sensitive circuit.
We further propose to explore the impact of disruption of these processes on alcohol-induced anxiety-like
behaviors and alcohol drinking. We will test the central hypothesis that chronic intermittent alcohol exposure
leads to persistent adaptations in this 5HT sensitive circuit in the BNST to drive increased anxiety-like behavior
and alcohol consumption.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10126769
- **Project number:** 5R01AA019454-12
- **Recipient organization:** UNIV OF NORTH CAROLINA CHAPEL HILL
- **Principal Investigator:** Thomas L. Kash
- **Activity code:** R01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2021
- **Award amount:** $403,692
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2010-08-05 → 2023-03-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10126769

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10126769, The Role of Serotonin in Alcohol-Withdrawal Induced Anxiety (5R01AA019454-12). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-22 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10126769. Licensed CC0.

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