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Updated: Jul 10, 2026

Microdialysis of Ethanol During Operant Ethanol Self-administration and Ethanol Determination by Gas Chromatography
Published on: September 5, 2012
Effect of ethanol self-administration on mu- and delta-opioid receptor-mediated G-protein activity
Laura J Sim-Selley1, Amanda L Sharpe, Leslie J Vogt
1Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology and Institute for Drug and Alcohol Studies, Virginia Commonwealth University, Medical College of Virginia, Richmond 23298, USA. ljsimsel@hsc.vcu.edu
Background:
This study examined the effects of ethanol self-administration on mu- and delta-opioid receptor-mediated G-protein activity in specific brain regions of male Long Evans rats.
Methods:
Rats were trained to self-administer ethanol by using a home-cage modification of the sucrose substitution paradigm. After 30 to 40 days of sucrose or sucrose/15% ethanol self-administration (20 min sessions, Monday-Friday), rats were killed for autoradiographic assays. Coronal sections of brains from sucrose and ethanol self-administering rats were collected and processed for basal and mu- and delta-stimulated [35S]guanosine-5'-O-(gamma-thio)-triphosphate (GTPgammaS) binding. Sections were exposed to film and then analyzed by using computer-assisted densitometry to determine levels of basal and agonist-stimulated [35S]GTPgammaS binding.
Results:
Mu-opioid-stimulated [35S]GTPgammaS binding was decreased in the prefrontal cortex of brains from ethanol compared with sucrose self-administering rats. Mu-opioid-stimulated [35S]GTPgammaS binding was unchanged in the cingulate cortex, caudate-putamen, nucleus accumbens, amygdala, hypothalamus, thalamus, and locus ceruleus of ethanol compared with sucrose self-administering rats. Basal and delta-opioid-stimulated [35S]GTPgammaS binding did not differ between the two groups in the prefrontal cortex or any other region analyzed.
Conclusions:
These data demonstrate decreased mu-opioid-mediated G-protein activity in the prefrontal cortex of ethanol self-administering rats and suggest an interaction between ethanol and mu-opioid receptors in this region.
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