In the VTA, water-drinking MS15 rats displayed higher Fkbp5 expression compared to MS360 rats (U = 14, p = .005). Alcohol- and water-drinking MS15 rats did not differ in expression levels, whereas alcohol-drinking MS360 rats had higher Fkbp5 expression than water-drinking MS360 rats (U = 48, p = .045) (Fig. 1). In the Acb, alcohol-drinking MS15 rats displayed higher expression of Fkbp5 than alcohol-drinking MS360 rats (U = 52, p = .050) (Fig. 1). In the CCx, water-drinking MS15 rats (U = 49, p = .024), alcohol-drinking MS15 (U = 52, p = .035), as well as water-drinking MS360 rats (U = 38, p = .005) displayed lower Fkbp5 expression compared to alcohol-drinking MS360 rats (Fig. 1). No group differences were observed on Fkbp5 expression in the Amy, mPFC, and dStr (data not shown).
