# Amygdala and Striatal Neural Circuits Controlling Alcohol Intake

> **NIH NIH R01** · JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY · 2022 · $368,438

## Abstract

Project Summary/Abstract
While considerable effort has been focused upon the neurobiological circuits mediating appetitive, or reward
seeking, aspects on alcohol self-administration, our understanding of the circuits that mediate the
consummatory aspects – the actual alcohol intake itself – is more limited. Therefore, the studies proposed
in this application seek to define the neural circuits that control alcohol intake. These studies build on past
work supporting a role for the nucleus accumbens and the amygdala central nucleus both in both natural
feeding and in alcohol intake. The contribution of these regions and selected afferents and efferents will be
determined using optogenetics to activate or suppress neuronal populations or specific neural projections,
and using calcium imaging to query the activity of these neural elements, during cue-elicited and
spontaneous alcohol intake. In addition, these studies will examine the impact of prior alcohol dependence
on the role of the accumbens and the amygdala central nucleus given the strong evidence for alcohol-
induced neuroadaptations in these extended amygdala regions. These studies represent important steps
towards specification of consummatory circuits whose function may change after chronic alcohol
representing a possible neurobiological mediator of excessive or escalated alcohol intake.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10401866
- **Project number:** 5R01AA026306-05
- **Recipient organization:** JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY
- **Principal Investigator:** Patricia H. Janak
- **Activity code:** R01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2022
- **Award amount:** $368,438
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2018-08-01 → 2024-04-30

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10401866

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10401866, Amygdala and Striatal Neural Circuits Controlling Alcohol Intake (5R01AA026306-05). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-24 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10401866. Licensed CC0.

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