Hypodopaminergic state of the nigrostriatal pathway drives compulsive alcohol use

Abstract

The neurobiological mechanisms underlying compulsive alcohol use, a cardinal feature of alcohol use disorder, remain elusive. The key modulator of motivational processes dopamine (DA) is suspected to play an important role in this pathology, but its exact implication remains to be determined. Here, we found that rats expressing compulsive alcohol-related behavior, operationalized as punishment-resistant self-administration, showed a decrease in DA levels restricted to the dorsolateral territories of the striatum, the main output structure of the nigrostriatal DA pathway. We then causally demonstrated that a chemogenetic-induced selective hypodopaminergia of this pathway results in compulsive alcohol self-administration in rats otherwise resilient, accompanied by the emergence of alcohol withdrawal-like motivational impairments. These results demonstrate a major implication of tonic nigrostriatal hypodopaminergic state in alcohol addiction and provide new insights into our understanding of the neurobiological mechanisms underlying compulsive alcohol use.