Microarray data from striatum and prefrontal cortex of ethanol light drinkers and ethanol inflexible drinkers

Transcriptional study to investigate differences in prefrontal cortex and striatum of mice that consumed ethanol despite negative consequences, which resembles the compulsive aspect of alcohol addiction. The transcriptional analysis performed in the striatum and prefrontal cortex revealed genes and biological pathways differentially regulated specifically in animals of the group Inflexible Drinkers that could be involved with the loss of control over voluntary ethanol consumption (da Silva E Silva et al., 2016; de Paiva Lima et al., 2017). In the animal model used, mice were given continuously access to three bottles containing 5 and 10% of ethanol (v/v) and water for 16 weeks. On the last two weeks of the experiment both ethanol solutions were adulterated with the bitter and aversive substance, quinine. Following this procedure, mice were classified in three groups according to their individual ethanol intake and preference as follows: “Light Drinkers” (preference for water at all experimental stages); “Heavy Drinkers” (ethanol preference decreased after adulteration of the ethanol solution with quinine), and “Inflexible Drinkers” (preference for ethanol at all experimental stages, even after addition of quinine to the ethanol solution) (Ribeiro et al., 2012)