PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - Subhash C. Pandey
AU  - Adip Roy
AU  - Huaibo Zhang
AU  - Tiejun Xu
TI  - Partial Deletion of the cAMP Response Element-Binding Protein Gene Promotes Alcohol-Drinking Behaviors
AID  - 10.1523/JNEUROSCI.5557-03.2004
DP  - 2004 May 26
TA  - The Journal of Neuroscience
PG  - 5022--5030
VI  - 24
IP  - 21
4099  - http://www.jneurosci.org/content/24/21/5022.short
4100  - http://www.jneurosci.org/content/24/21/5022.full
SO  - J. Neurosci.2004 May 26; 24
AB  - The cAMP response element-binding protein (CREB) gene transcription factor has been shown to play a role in the synaptic plasticity associated with drug addictive behaviors; however, the causal role of the CREB gene in alcohol-drinking behaviors is unknown. The present investigation evaluated alcohol-drinking behaviors in mice that are haplodeficient in CREB as a result of targeted CREB (α and Δ) gene disruption. It was found that CREB-haplodeficient (+/-) mice have higher preference for ethanol but not for sucrose solution than wild-type (+/+) littermates. The functional aspects of the CREB gene transcription factor were also investigated by measuring the protein levels of phosphorylated CREB (p-CREB) and the expression of cAMP-inducible genes such as neuropeptide Y (NPY) and brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF). Deletion of the CREB (α and Δ) gene significantly decreases total CREB, p-CREB levels and the expression of NPY and BDNF in the brain structures of CREB-deficient (+/-) mice. It was also found that CREB-deficient (+/-) mice displayed more anxiety-like behaviors and that acute ethanol exposure produced anxiolytic effects and significantly increased protein levels of p-CREB and NPY in the central and medial but not in the basolateral amygdala of wild-type mice, but these effects are attenuated in CREB-deficient mice compared with wild-type mice. These results provide the first direct evidence that a haplodeficiency of the CREB gene is associated with increased alcohol-drinking behaviors. Furthermore, alcohol drinking and anxiety-like behaviors in CREB-haplodeficient mice may possibly be related to decreased expression of NPY and BDNF in the brains of these mice.