http://goo.gl/o1ywtf
The two brain areas – the extended amygdala and the ventral tegmental area – have been implicated in alcohol binge drinking in the past. However, this is the first time that the two areas have been identified as a functional circuit, connected by long projection neurons that produce a substance called corticotropin releasing factor, or CRF for short. The results provide the first direct evidence in mice that inhibiting a circuit between two brain regions protects against binge alcohol drinking.
“The puzzle is starting to come together, and is telling us more than we ever knew about before,” said Todd Thiele of UNC-Chapel Hill’s College of Arts and Sciences, whose work appears in the journal Biological Psychiatry. “We now know that two brain regions that modulate stress and reward are part of a functional circuit that controls binge drinking and adds to the idea that manipulating the CRF system is an avenue for treating it.”