# Behavioral Core

> **NIH NIH P50** · UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS AT CHICAGO · 2022 · $215,865

## Abstract

PROJECT SUMMARY
Acute withdrawal from chronic alcohol exposure is associated with a number of symptoms including neuronal
hyperexcitability, heightened irritability, and a negative affective state. In addition, acute withdrawal is associated
with escalated and uncontrolled alcohol consumption, which is thought to occur, at least in part, due to negative
reinforcement as drinking alleviates withdrawal symptoms. The brain undergoes significant neuroadaptations
during withdrawal from chronic alcohol exposure. These neuroadaptive processes are thought to play an
important role in driving maladaptive behaviors including continued alcohol consumption. During the current
funding period CARE investigators have uncovered a number of significant, epigenetically regulated changes in
gene expression in the brains of rats withdrawn from chronic ethanol exposure. Interestingly, while some
withdrawal-induced epigenetic modifications appear to be common throughout the brain, many are brain region-
specific. CARE investigators have further demonstrated that reversal of some of these epigenetic alterations
attenuates withdrawal symptoms including those associated with negative affect and altered neurotransmission.
However, it is not yet known whether withdrawal-induced epigenetic dysregulation promotes escalated alcohol
consumption. The proposed Behavioral Core will allow CARE investigators to address this gap by providing the
resources necessary to link withdrawal-induced epigenetic changes with alterations in drinking behavior across
all four Research Projects of the CARE. The Behavioral Core will provide CARE investigators with oversight of
experimental design, implementation, and analysis of standardized behavioral experiments measuring operant
ethanol self-administration in control and ethanol withdrawn rats following either systemic or region-specific
reversal of withdrawal-induced epigenetic alterations. The Behavioral Core will also facilitate centralized
production of brain tissue from control rats and rats withdrawn from chronic ethanol liquid diet for experiments
conducted by the Epigenetics Core. The results generated by the Behavioral Core will allow CARE investigators
to establish a causal link between epigenetic modifications and escalated alcohol consumption. Together with
findings from each Research Project, these data will inform future work aimed at the development of novel drugs
targeting epigenetic factors for the treatment of alcohol use disorders.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10380648
- **Project number:** 5P50AA022538-08
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS AT CHICAGO
- **Principal Investigator:** Elizabeth J Glover
- **Activity code:** P50 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2022
- **Award amount:** $215,865
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2015-04-01 → 2025-03-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10380648

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10380648, Behavioral Core (5P50AA022538-08). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-24 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10380648. Licensed CC0.

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