Dopaminergic Regulation of Striatal Interneurons in Reward and Addiction: Focus on Alcohol

Figure 2

Schematic drawing showing acute effects by ethanol on striatal interneurons. Ethanol exerts a complex modulatory role on striatal interneurons by interacting with multiple receptor systems and signaling pathways, resulting in decreased firing frequency of both GABAergic and cholinergic interneurons, even though FSI activity has been shown to increase in slice recordings performed in the dorsal striatum. Arrows mark the impact on firing frequency caused by activation of the receptor (up/down), while the color marks whether ethanol acts inhibitory (red) or possibly inhibitory (pink) or facilitates (green) receptor activation. In addition, ethanol is presumed to elevate dopamine levels resulting in activation of dopamine receptors (blue), further modulating neuronal activity. See text for further details.