# The effects of low-dose ethanol on reward-value decision making and the basolateral amygdala

> **NIH NIH F31** · DREXEL UNIVERSITY · 2024 · $48,974

## Abstract

Project Summary
The majority of alcohol users in the US consume alcohol at doses and frequencies that are not consistent with
alcohol use disorder (AUD). There is growing evidence that low-dose ethanol exposure impacts the brain and
behavior but despite this, the behavioral and neurobiological consequences of chronic low-dose alcohol
consumption are poorly understood. The decision to seek a reward has a direct relationship with its value. The
ability to reassess and update reward value is critical for adaptive value-guided decision making. Deficits in the
processes that moderate motivated behavior may contribute to the transition from casual alcohol consumption
to AUD. Data from our lab indicate that chronic low-dose ethanol enhances reward motivation in a progressive
ratio (PR) task in male, but not female, mice. In contrast, ethanol-exposed female mice are more sensitive to
reduced reward value than ethanol-naïve females, whereas ethanol exposure did not increase sensitivity to
change in reward value in males. These changes may result from an ethanol-induced dysregulation in the ability
to use reward value information to guide behavior, which can be determined experimentally through the use of
a value-guided decision making task. One potential neurobiological substrate mediating this effect is the
basolateral amygdala (BLA). The BLA is a key neuroanatomical substrate of reward value encoding and
participates in updating value information and influencing value-guided decision making. Preliminary data from
our lab suggest that chronic low-dose ethanol exposure decreases cFos expression in BLA and its projections
to the nucleus accumbens (NAc) following reward seeking. This proposal will test the overarching hypothesis
that chronic-low-dose ethanol alters BLA glutamate receptor expression, thus contributing to impairments in
detecting and using reward value information to guide behavior. In Aim 1, we will use a value-guided decision-
making task to test our hypothesis that chronic low-dose ethanol impairs the ability to update changes in reward
value for adaptive behavior. In Aim2, we will investigate the impact of chronic low-dose ethanol exposure on BLA
and NAc postsynaptic glutamate receptors and the relationship between these changes and performance on the
value-guided decision-making task. Aim 3 will use chemogenetic strategies to test the hypothesis that inhibiting
the BLA or BLA → NAc circuit activity will impair the ability to successfully use reward value information during
a value-guided decision-making task. The results from these experiments will expand our understanding of the
impacts of chronic low-dose ethanol exposure on behavior and neurobiology, which is an area that remains
severely understudied in the alcohol use field. Further, this fellowship will enable the applicant to build on her
expertise in learning and memory processes which may be dysregulated by alcohol use by integrating a
conceptual understanding of low-dose ethano...

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10919178
- **Project number:** 5F31AA031439-02
- **Recipient organization:** DREXEL UNIVERSITY
- **Principal Investigator:** Christina Curran-Alfaro
- **Activity code:** F31 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2024
- **Award amount:** $48,974
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2023-09-01 → 2026-08-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10919178

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10919178, The effects of low-dose ethanol on reward-value decision making and the basolateral amygdala (5F31AA031439-02). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-23 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10919178. Licensed CC0.

---

*[NIH grants dataset](/datasets/nih-grants) · CC0 1.0*