Varenicline reduces ethanol consumption in male C57BL/6J mice: Potential gene expression mechanisms

In recent years, varenicline has been shown to decrease ethanol consumption in adult rodents providing support as a therapeutic treatment for alcohol use disorder (AUD). Varenicline is a partial agonist at alpha4beta2 nicotinic acetylcholine receptors, but interacts with other receptors at high concentrations. In order to gain a greater understanding of the mechanisms by which varenicline decreases ethanol consumption, we performed RNA sequencing on striatal tissue from C57BL/6J mice treated with varenicline or saline prior to an ethanol Drinking-in-the-Dark (DID) session. Using classical tools to analyze RNA sequencing data, we found 809 differentially expressed genes with Cuffdiff and one significant co-expression network using WGCNA. Striatal gene expression from animals treated with saline or 2 mg/kg varenicline prior to ethanol Drinking-in-the-Dark