Twenty-four hours after administration of the last PPAR agonist for the microarray study, mice were euthanized by cervical dislocation. Livers were removed and brains were placed in a petri dish on ice. After removal of olfactory bulbs, PFC was dissected by cutting the foremost 2 mm of the cortex on each side, at an approximate 50-degree angle from the midline of the brain. Brains were then placed in a coronal Zivic mouse brain slicer with a 0.5 mm resolution (Zivic Instruments, PA), and the amygdala was dissected from slices cut from the following coordinates: coronal level 56–66 [Bregma (−0.18)–(−1.155)] and 66–80 [Bregma (−1.155)–(−2.55)]. Tissue was immediately flash-frozen in liquid nitrogen and stored at −80°C until use. The amygdala and PFC were chosen for their importance in reward signaling and ethanol dependence 25. The liver was chosen in order to validate microarray results since PPAR agonists are known to change liver gene expression 47.
