Individual susceptibility to alcohol effects plays an important role in the development of alcohol addiction and studies have shown that glutamate release is altered after chronic ethanol consumption. The cystine-glutamate antiporter (xCT) is a protein that regulates glutamate release. However, little is known about the relationship between xCT levels and this individual susceptibility. Thus, this study aimed to evaluate the relationship between the extinction and stress-induced reinstatement of ethanol conditioned place preference (CPP) and xCT levels in the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC), nucleus accumbens (NAcc) and amygdala (Amy). Male Swiss mice were submitted to a CPP procedure followed by an extinction protocol and then identified as those which extinguished the CPP and those that did not. In another cohort, mice that extinguished the CPP were submitted to a protocol of stress-induced reinstatement. Immediately after the tests, brains were removed for xCT quantification. The xCT levels were significantly lower in the mPFC and NAcc of mice that did not extinguish CPP. Moreover, mice that were susceptible to stress-induced reinstatement of CPP had lower levels of xCT in the NAcc. Our results suggest that individual susceptibility to the extinction and reinstatement of ethanol CPP is related to alterations in xCT levels.

个体对酒精影响的易感性在酒精成瘾的发展中起着重要作用，研究表明，长期摄入酒精后谷氨酸盐的释放会发生变化。胱氨酸-谷氨酸逆向转运蛋白 (xCT) 是一种调节谷氨酸释放的蛋白质。然而，人们对 xCT 水平与个体易感性之间的关系知之甚少。因此，本研究旨在评估乙醇条件性位置偏好（CPP）的消退和压力诱导的恢复与内侧前额叶皮层（mPFC）、伏隔核（NAcc）和杏仁核（Amy）的xCT水平之间的关系。雄性瑞士小鼠被提交给 CPP 程序，然后是灭绝协议，然后将其确定为熄灭 CPP 的那些和没有熄灭的那些。在另一个队列中，熄灭 CPP 的小鼠被提交给压力诱导的恢复协议。测试后立即取出大脑进行 xCT 量化。没有熄灭 CPP 的小鼠的 mPFC 和 NAcc 中的 xCT 水平显着降低。此外，易受应激诱导的 CPP 恢复的小鼠在 NAcc 中的 xCT 水平较低。我们的结果表明，个体对乙醇 CPP 的消失和恢复的易感性与 xCT 水平的改变有关。易受应激诱导的 CPP 恢复的小鼠在 NAcc 中的 xCT 水平较低。我们的结果表明，个体对乙醇 CPP 灭绝和恢复的易感性与 xCT 水平的改变有关。易受应激诱导的 CPP 恢复的小鼠在 NAcc 中的 xCT 水平较低。我们的结果表明，个体对乙醇 CPP 灭绝和恢复的易感性与 xCT 水平的改变有关。