Related Experiment Video
Updated: Apr 25, 2026
The Motivation for Alcohol Reward: Predictors of Progressive-Ratio Intravenous Alcohol Self-Administration in Humans
Published on: April 28, 2022
Beer self-administration provokes lateralized nucleus accumbens dopamine release in male heavy drinkers
Brandon G Oberlin1, Mario Dzemidzic, Stella M Tran
1Department of Neurology, Indiana University School of Medicine (IUSOM), 355 W 16th St. Ste 4600, Indianapolis, IN, 46202, USA.
Rationale:
Although striatal dopamine (DA) is important in alcohol abuse, the nature of DA release during actual alcohol drinking is unclear, since drinking includes self-administration of both conditioned flavor stimuli (CS) of the alcoholic beverage and subsequent intoxication, the unconditioned stimulus (US).
Objectives:
Here, we used a novel self-administration analog to distinguish nucleus accumbens (NAcc) DA responses specific to the CS and US.
Methods:
Right-handed male heavy drinkers (n = 26) received three positron emission tomography (PET) scans with the D2/D3 radioligand [(11)C]raclopride (RAC) and performed a pseudo self-administration task that separately administered a flavor CS of either a habitually consumed beer or the appetitive control Gatorade®, concomitant with the US of ethanol intoxication (0.06 g/dL intravenous (IV) administration) or IV saline. Scan conditions were Gatorade flavor + saline (Gat&Sal), Gatorade flavor + ethanol (Gat&Eth), and beer flavor + ethanol (Beer&Eth).
Results:
Ethanol (US) reduced RAC binding (inferring DA release) in the left (L) NAcc [Gat&Sal > Gat&Eth]. Beer flavor (CS) increased DA in the right (R) NAcc [Gat&Eth > Beer&Eth]. The combination of beer flavor and ethanol (CS + US), [Gat&Sal > Beer&Eth], induced DA release in bilateral NAcc. Self-reported intoxication during scanning correlated with L NAcc DA release. Relative to saline, infusion of ethanol increased alcoholic drink wanting.
Conclusions:
Our findings suggest lateralized DA function in the NAcc, with L NAcc DA release most reflecting intoxication, R NAcc DA release most reflecting the flavor CS, and the conjoint CS + US producing a bilateral NAcc response.
