Xiao Tiange, Roland Alison, Chen Yueyi, Guffey Skylar, Kash Thomas, Kimbrough Adam
Department of Basic Medical Sciences, College of Veterinary Medicine, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN, United States.
Bowles Center for Alcohol Studies, University of North Carolina School of Medicine, Chapel Hill, NC, United States; Department of Pharmacology, University of North Carolina School of Medicine, Chapel Hill, NC, United States.
Alcohol. 2024 Dec;121:151-159. doi: 10.1016/j.alcohol.2024.02.008. Epub 2024 Mar 4.
Alcohol use disorder (AUD) poses a significant public health challenge. Individuals with AUD engage in chronic and excessive alcohol consumption, leading to cycles of intoxication, withdrawal, and craving behaviors. This review explores the involvement of the cortical amygdala (CoA), a cortical brain region that has primarily been examined in relation to olfactory behavior, in the expression of alcohol dependence and excessive alcohol drinking. While extensive research has identified the involvement of numerous brain regions in AUD, the CoA has emerged as a relatively understudied yet promising candidate for future study. The CoA plays a vital role in rewarding and aversive signaling and olfactory-related behaviors and has recently been shown to be involved in alcohol-dependent drinking in mice. The CoA projects directly to brain regions that are critically important for AUD, such as the central amygdala, bed nucleus of the stria terminalis, and basolateral amygdala. These projections may convey key modulatory signaling that drives excessive alcohol drinking in alcohol-dependent subjects. This review summarizes existing knowledge on the structure and connectivity of the CoA and its potential involvement in AUD. Understanding the contribution of this region to excessive drinking behavior could offer novel insights into the etiology of AUD and potential therapeutic targets.
酒精使用障碍（AUD）对公共卫生构成了重大挑战。患有AUD的个体长期过度饮酒，导致中毒、戒断和渴望行为的循环。本综述探讨了皮质杏仁核（CoA）——一个主要在嗅觉行为方面进行过研究的皮质脑区——在酒精依赖和过度饮酒表现中的作用。虽然广泛的研究已经确定了许多脑区参与AUD，但CoA已成为一个相对研究较少但未来研究前景广阔的候选脑区。CoA在奖赏和厌恶信号传导以及嗅觉相关行为中起着至关重要的作用，最近已被证明参与小鼠的酒精依赖饮酒行为。CoA直接投射到对AUD至关重要的脑区，如中央杏仁核、终纹床核和基底外侧杏仁核。这些投射可能传递关键的调节信号，驱动酒精依赖者过度饮酒。本综述总结了关于CoA的结构和连接性及其在AUD中潜在作用的现有知识。了解该区域对过度饮酒行为的贡献可能为AUD的病因和潜在治疗靶点提供新的见解。
