Alcohol use disorder (AUD) remains a major global public health concern. In the US, patterns of excessive drinking over short periods, termed binge drinking, are becoming increasingly common. Although binge drinking occurs in both men and women, there are gender-specific pathophysiological consequences that emerge as a consequence of this kind of problematic drinking. Much has been learned about the brain substrates of AUD but we still know surprisingly little about the neural circuitry governing binge drinking or the distinct neuronal adaptations that drive sex-dependent central nervous system changes associated with excessive alcohol consumption.

In this paper, Dao et al. [1] integrated “Drinking in the Dark” (DID), a well-validated mouse model of binge-like drinking, along with elegant optogenetic/chemogenetic approaches, to examine behavioral and neurophysiological adaptations in male and female mice. In the DID model, mice are given access to a 20% alcohol solution (roughly the concentration of fortified wine) for 2–4 h. drinking sessions initiated 3 h. into the dark cycle, corresponding to a period of high activity in mice. Following repeated cycles of 4 days of alcohol access and 3 days off, most mice attain blood alcohol levels that meet the NIAAA definition of a binge (80 mg%).

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