The pharmacological stressor yohimbine increases ongoing alcohol self-administration and reinstates alcohol seeking in rats. This effect is attenuated by systemic injections of a corticotropin-releasing factor (CRF) antagonist. The brain sites involved in CRF's role in yohimbine-induced alcohol taking and seeking are unknown. We report that injections of the CRF receptor antagonist d-Phe CRF into the median raphe nucleus (MRN) attenuated yohimbine-induced reinstatement of alcohol seeking but had no effect on yohimbine-induced increases in alcohol intake during ongoing self-administration. Results indicate an important role of MRN CRF receptors in yohimbine-induced reinstatement of alcohol seeking but not yohimbine-induced increases in alcohol intake.
© 2011 The Authors, Addiction Biology © 2011 Society for the Study of Addiction.