Amy W. Lasek

This study shows that astrocyte-expressed STAT3 maintains glutamate transporter levels and promotes ethanol consumption in male mice.

This study shows that estrogen signaling through ER and ERβ in 5-HTDRN neurons influences binge drinking behavior in mice, with ER agonists reducing alcohol-induced neuronal activity and binge drinking.

This study shows that endogenous 17β-estradiol enhances reward prediction errors in the nucleus accumbens by reducing dopamine reuptake, thereby influencing reinforcement learning.

The paper investigates how estradiol affects ethanol-induced firing in ventral tegmental area dopamine neurons, finding enhanced firing without changes in synaptic inhibition.

This study identifies estrogen receptor α's role in enhancing ethanol excitation of VTA dopamine neurons and binge drinking in female mice, highlighting sex-specific mechanisms in alcohol use disorder.

This study shows that disrupting perineuronal nets in the insula increases sensitivity to bitter-tastant adulterated alcohol and enhances insula activation during aversion-resistant drinking.