We’ve long known that appetite-regulating peptides play a role in alcohol use disorder — but where in the brain does this happen? Our latest study points to a surprising player: the paraventricular thalamus (PVT).
In our recent paper, we found that activating the amylin receptor (AMYR) in the mid-PVT reduces alcohol intake and blunts alcohol-induced dopamine release in the nucleus accumbens — a key reward circuit. This effect appears to be sex-dependent, observed in males but not females, potentially linked to differences in glutamatergic projections from PVT to NAc. These findings open a new window into the neurobiology of AUD and highlight the mid-PVT as a novel target worth exploring for future treatments.
