# Thalamostriatal circuit contributions to behavioral inflexibility following adolescent ethanol exposure > **NIH NIH R21** · HENRY M. JACKSON FDN FOR THE ADV MIL/MED · 2022 · $181,089 ## Abstract Project Summary Alcohol use disorder (AUD) is a chronic disease with substantial health and socioeconomic consequences. Drinking alcohol during adolescence increases the risk of developing symptoms associated with AUD during adulthood, including heavy drinking. The overarching goal of this project is to identify functional adaptations in brain circuitry that are caused by adolescent alcohol exposure, and to determine the role of those adaptations in maladaptive behaviors. Deficits in behavioral flexibility (i.e., impaired ability to alter behavior in response to changes in the outcome of that behavior) are associated with drug and alcohol misuse. Previous studies show that alcohol exposure during adolescence decreases behavioral flexibility in adult rodents. This proposal will explore the impact of adolescent alcohol exposure on brain circuitry involved in behavioral flexibility. Specifically, the proposed studies will determine the effects of adolescent alcohol exposure on neurons in the centrolateral nucleus of the thalamus (CL) that project to the dorsomedial striatum (DMS). Lesion or inhibition of these neurons causes deficits in behavioral flexibility in commonly used tasks including reversal learning and attentional set-shifting. These deficits are similar to those observed after adolescent alcohol exposure; however, the impact of alcohol on these neurons, and the involvement of CL neurons in alcohol-induced deficits in behavioral flexibility, have not been explored. The central hypothesis is that adolescent alcohol exposure reduces activity in DMS-projecting CL neurons, and that reduced CL neuron activity contributes to impaired behavioral flexibility in male and female mice. The experiments in Aim 1 will compare the physiology of CL neurons from adult alcohol-naïve mice and mice that were exposed to vaporized alcohol during adolescence. Brain slice electrophysiology experiments will measure the intrinsic excitability of DMS-projecting CL neurons as well as their excitatory and inhibitory synaptic inputs. To extend these findings to intact brain circuits, activity of DMS-projecting CL neurons from alcohol-naïve mice and mice with a history of adolescent alcohol exposure will be measured during reversal learning. Calcium dynamics in these neurons will be monitored via fiber photometry using the genetically-encoded calcium indicator jGCaMP7s. Experiments in Aim 2 will test the hypothesis that increasing activity of DMS-projecting CL neurons using optogenetic stimulation will improve behavioral flexibility in mice exposed to alcohol during adolescence. Results of these experiments will provide important information about how adolescent alcohol exposure affects thalamostriatal circuitry in the developing brain and how alcohol-induced changes in thalamostriatal physiology relate to maladaptive behaviors that contribute to alcohol misuse in adulthood. Discovery of novel circuitry that is impacted by adolescent alcohol exposure will inform strate... ## Key facts - **NIH application ID:** 10354795 - **Project number:** 1R21AA029782-01 - **Recipient organization:** HENRY M. JACKSON FDN FOR THE ADV MIL/MED - **Principal Investigator:** Kari Johnson - **Activity code:** R21 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.) - **Funding institute:** NIH - **Fiscal year:** 2022 - **Award amount:** $181,089 - **Award type:** 1 - **Project period:** 2022-03-01 → 2024-02-29 ## Primary source NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10354795 ## Citation > US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10354795, Thalamostriatal circuit contributions to behavioral inflexibility following adolescent ethanol exposure (1R21AA029782-01). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-24 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10354795. Licensed CC0. --- *[NIH grants dataset](/datasets/nih-grants) · CC0 1.0*