Wine Information Council
4 april 2025
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Chronic ethanol exposure produces sex-dependent impairments in value computations in the striatum

Value-based decision-making relies on the striatum, where neural plasticity can be altered by chronic ethanol (EtOH) exposure, but the effects of such plasticity on striatal neural dynamics during decision-making remain unclear. This study investigated the long-term impacts of EtOH on reward-driven decision-making and striatal neurocomputations in male and female rats using a dynamic probabilistic reversal learning task. Following a prolonged withdrawal period, EtOH-exposed male rats exhibited deficits in adaptability and exploratory behavior, with aberrant outcome-driven value updating that heightened preference for chosen action. These behavioral changes were linked to altered neural activity in the dorsomedial striatum (DMS), where EtOH increased outcome-related encoding and decreased choice-related encoding. In contrast, female rats showed minimal behavioral changes with distinct EtOH-evoked alterations of neural activity, revealing significant sex differences in the impact of chronic EtOH. Our findings underscore the impact of chronic EtOH exposure on adaptive decision-making, revealing enduring changes in neurocomputational processes in the striatum underlying cognitive deficits that differ by sex.

Additional Info

  • Authors

    Cheng Y.; Magnard R.; Langdon A. J.; Lee D.; Janak P. H.

  • Issue

    Periodical: Sci Adv - Volume: 11 - Number: 14 - Edition: 20250402

  • Published Date

    4 april 2025

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