Dopamine is a mediator of the stimulant properties of drugs of abuse, including ethanol, in mammals and in the fruit fly Drosophila. The neural substrates for the stimulant actions of ethanol in flies are not known. We show that a subset of dopamine neurons and their targets, through the action of the D1-like dopamine receptor DopR, promote locomotor activation in response to acute ethanol exposure. A bilateral pair of dopaminergic neurons in the fly brain mediates the enhanced locomotor activity induced by ethanol exposure, and promotes locomotion when directly activated. These neurons project to the central complex ellipsoid body, a structure implicated in regulating motor behaviors. Ellipsoid body neurons are required for ethanol-induced locomotor activity and they express DopR. Elimination of DopR blunts the locomotor activating effects of ethanol, and this behavior can be restored by selective expression of DopR in the ellipsoid body. These data tie the activity of defined dopamine neurons to D1-like DopR-expressing neurons to form a neural circuit that governs acute responding to ethanol.

Background Increased ethanol intake, a major predictor for the development of alcohol use disorders, is facilitated by the development of tolerance to both the aversive and pleasurable effects of the drug. The molecular mechanisms underlying ethanol tolerance development are complex and are not yet well understood. Methods To identify genetic mechanisms that contribute to ethanol tolerance, we examined the time course of gene expression changes elicited by a single sedating dose of ethanol in Drosophila, and completed a behavioral survey of strains harboring mutations in ethanol-regulated genes. Results Enrichment for genes in metabolism, nucleic acid binding, olfaction, regulation of signal transduction, and stress suggests that these biological processes are coordinately affected by ethanol exposure. We also detected a coordinate up-regulation of genes in the Toll and Imd innate immunity signal transduction pathways. A multi-study comparison revealed a small set of genes showing similar regulation, including increased expression of 3 genes for serine biosynthesis. A survey of Drosophila strains harboring mutations in ethanol-regulated genes for ethanol sensitivity and tolerance phenotypes revealed roles for serine biosynthesis, olfaction, transcriptional regulation, immunity, and metabolism. Flies harboring deletions of the genes encoding the olfactory co-receptor Or83b or the sirtuin Sir2 showed marked changes in the development of ethanol tolerance. Conclusions Our findings implicate novel roles for these genes in regulating ethanol behavioral responses.

Acute ethanol inebriation causes neuroadaptive changes in behavior that favor increased intake. Ethanol-induced alterations in gene expression, through epigenetic and other means, are likely to change cellular and neural circuit function. Ethanol markedly changes histone acetylation, and the sirtuin Sir2/SIRT1 that deacetylates histones and transcription factors is essential for the rewarding effects of long-term drug use. The molecular transformations leading from short-term to long-term ethanol responses mostly remain to be discovered. We find that Sir2 in the mushroom bodies of the fruit fly Drosophila promotes short-term ethanol-induced behavioral plasticity by allowing changes in the expression of presynaptic molecules. Acute inebriation strongly reduces Sir2 levels and increases histone H3 acetylation in the brain. Flies lacking Sir2 globally, in the adult nervous system, or specifically in the mushroom body ␣/␤-lobes show reduced ethanol sensitivity and tolerance. Sir2-dependent ethanol reward is also localized to the mushroom bodies, and Sir2 mutants prefer ethanol even without a priming ethanol pre-exposure. Transcriptomic analysis reveals that specific presynaptic molecules, including the synaptic vesicle pool regulator Synapsin, depend on Sir2 to be regulated by ethanol. Synapsin is required for ethanol sensitivity and tolerance. We propose that the regulation of Sir2/SIRT1 by acute inebriation forms part of a transcriptional program in mushroom body neurons to alter presynaptic properties and neural responses to favor the development of ethanol tolerance, preference, and reward.

Background-It has become increasingly clear that molecular and neural mechanisms underlying learning and memory and drug addiction are largely shared. To confirm and extend these findings, we analyzed ethanol-responsive behaviors of a collection of Drosophila long-term memory mutants.

From a genetic screen for Drosophila melanogaster mutants with altered ethanol tolerance, we identified intolerant (intol), a novel allele of discs large 1 (dlg1). Dlg1 encodes Discs Large 1, a MAGUK (Membrane Associated Guanylate Kinase) family member that is the highly conserved homolog of mammalian PSD-95 and SAP97. The intol mutation disrupted specifically the expression of DlgS97, a SAP97 homolog, and one of two major protein isoforms encoded by dlg1 via alternative splicing. Expression of the major isoform, DlgA, a PSD-95 homolog, appeared unaffected. Ethanol tolerance in the intol mutant could be partially restored by transgenic expression of DlgS97, but not DlgA, in specific neurons of the fly’s brain. Based on co-immunoprecipitation, DlgS97 forms a complex with N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) receptors, a known target of ethanol. Consistent with these observations, flies expressing reduced levels of the essential NMDA receptor subunit dNR1 also showed reduced ethanol tolerance, as did mutants in the gene calcium/calmodulin-dependent protein kinase (caki), encoding the fly homolog of mammalian CASK, a known binding partner of DlgS97. Lastly, mice in which SAP97, the mammalian homolog of DlgS97, was conditionally deleted in adults failed to develop rapid tolerance to ethanol’s sedative/hypnotic effects. We propose that DlgS97/SAP97 plays an important and conserved role in the development of tolerance to ethanol via NMDA receptor-mediated synaptic plasticity.