Neuron activity in the anterolateral motor cortex in operant food-acquiring and alcohol-acquiring behavior

The interactions of the neuronal mechanisms of food-acquiring behavior and newly formed operant alcohol-acquiring behavior were studied by recording the activity of individual neurons in the anterolateral area of the motor cortex in chronically alcoholized rabbits. Adult animals learned food-acquiring behavior in a cage with two feeders and two pedals, in the comers (the food in the feeders was presented after pressing the corresponding pedal). After nine months of chronic alcoholization, the same rabbits learned an alcohol-acquiring behavior in the same experimental cage (gelatin capsules filled with 15% ethanol solution were placed in the feeders instead of food). Analysis of neuron activity showed that the set of neurons involved in supporting food-acquiring and alcohol-acquiring behaviors overlapped, though not completely. These experiments not only help us understand the neuronal mechanisms of the newly formed and the previously formed behaviors, but also facilitate the development of concepts of the similarity of the neuronal mechanisms of long-term memory and long-term modifications of the nervous system, occurring in conditions of repeated intake of addictive substances.