Figure 3
From: Dopamine D3 Receptor Is Necessary for Ethanol Consumption: An Approach with Buspirone
Chronic ethanol intake induces D3 upregulation, associated with the activation of BDNF/RACK1 pathway. Abundance of transcripts in striatum was assessed by quantitative RT-PCR after 44 days of free access to water only (white columns), or to both water and ethanol (black columns, upper panels) or forced ethanol intake (black columns lower panels). In the forced alcohol-drinking procedure (d–h), D3R−/− and WT received 10% ethanol only, with or without SB277011A or buspirone for 14 days. (a, f) D3 Expression profile in WT; (b, d, g) brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) expression profile in WT and D3−/−; (c, e, h) RACK1 expression profile in WT and D3−/−. Mean fold changes are expressed relative to transcript levels in controls (WT having access to water only). Each column is the mean (± SEM) from five different samples. *p<0.05, **p<0.01 vs water. One-way ANOVA and Newman–Keuls post hoc test.
