Rinker et al. (2017) reported that reducing the function of CRF-expressing bed nucleus of the stria terminalis (BNST)-VTA projections reduces ethanol intake in a mouse model of binge drinking. This effect was mimicked by blockade of CRF1. Both the BNST and CRF are implicated in ethanol drinking and relapse driven by stress and negative affect (Koob, 2015), and there is evidence that BNST-VTA projection neurons regulate the expression of ethanol conditioned place preference (Pina et al., 2015; Pina and Cunningham, 2017).
