Off-campus UMass Amherst users: To download campus access dissertations, please use the following link to log into our proxy server with your UMass Amherst user name and password.

Non-UMass Amherst users: Please talk to your librarian about requesting this dissertation through interlibrary loan.

Dissertations that have an embargo placed on them will not be available to anyone until the embargo expires.

AccessType

Campus-Only Access for Five (5) Years

Document Type

dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Degree Program

Neuroscience and Behavior

Year Degree Awarded

2019

Month Degree Awarded

September

First Advisor

David E. Moorman

Second Advisor

Heather Richardson

Third Advisor

Luke Remage-Healey

Fourth Advisor

Elena Vazey

Subject Categories

Behavioral Neurobiology | Behavior and Behavior Mechanisms | Other Neuroscience and Neurobiology | Psychological Phenomena and Processes

Abstract

Structural and physiological abnormalities in the frontal cortex are strongly correlated with alcohol use and misuse – a worldwide biomedical concern. One frontal cortical region that has been understudied in terms of alcohol use and misuse is the orbitofrontal cortex (OFC). The OFC is critical for encoding the predictive value of appetitive outcomes (rewards), and OFC activity is correlated with the propensity of an individual to seek that reward. Although studies have examined the role of the OFC in cocaine preference and seeking, few studies have examined whether OFC activity encodes the value of alcohol rewards or even if the OFC is necessary for the expression of alcohol seeking. Results demonstrated that OFC neurons do encode the relative behavioral preference for alcohol rewards and that this encoding is relatively stable. Additionally, I investigated whether OFC neurons were necessary for alcohol seeking and consumption using inhibitory chemogenetics and discovered that OFC neurons are selectively necessary for reinstating palatable alcohol as well as sucrose seeking. The findings support that the OFC encodes relative preference for alcohol but is only necessary for modulating behavior on cued-reinstatement, suggesting that the OFC is a target brain region for intervention for alcohol relapse.

DOI

https://doi.org/10.7275/15239435

Share

COinS