Gene expression within the extended amygdala of 5 pairs of rat lines selectively bred for high or low ethanol consumption

The objectives of this study were to determine innate differences in gene expression in 2 regions of the extended amygdala between 5 different pairs of lines of male rats selectively bred for high or low ethanol consumption: (a) alcohol-preferring (P) vs. alcohol-non-preferring (NP) rats; (b) high-alcohol-drinking (HAD) vs. low-alcohol-drinking (LAD) rats (replicate line-pairs 1 and 2); (c) ALKO alcohol (AA) vs. nonalcohol (ANA) rats; and (d) Sardinian alcohol-preferring (sP) vs. alcohol-nonpreferring (sNP) rats, and then to determine if these differences are common across the line-pairs. Microarray analysis revealed up to 1,772 and 494 unique named genes that significantly differed (FDR = 0.10; fold-change at least 1.2) in expression between the individual line-pairs in the nucleus accumbens shell (AcbSh) and central nucleus of the amygdala (CeA), respectively. Analysis using Gene Ontology (GO) and Ingenuity Pathways information indicated significant categories and networks in common for up to 3 or 4 line-pairs, but not for all 5 line-pairs; however, there were almost no individual genes in common within these categories and networks. ANOVAs of the combined data for the 5 line-pairs indicated 1,014 and 731 significant (p < 0.01) differences in expression of named genes in the AcbSh and CeA, respectively. There were 4-6 individual named genes that significantly differed across up to 3 line-pairs in both regions; only one gene (Gsta4 in the CeA) differed in as many as 4 line-pairs. Overall, the findings suggest that (a) some biological categories or networks (e.g., cell-to-cell signaling, cellular stress response, cellular organization, etc.) may be in common for subsets of line-pairs within either the AcbSh or CeA; and (b) regulation of different genes and/or combinations of multiple biological systems may be contributing to the disparate alcohol drinking behaviors of these line-pairs.