to reward and stress circuitries involved in alcohol/drug addiction (Shirayama et al., 2004). Further, pharmacological manipulation of KOR activity alters behavioral responses to stress and motivational effects of alcohol. For example, KOR agonists have been shown to produce a state of stress/dysphoria, mimicking effects of stress on alcohol drinking and conditioned reward (Anderson et al., 2016b; Sperling et al., 2010). Conversely, KOR antagonists attenuate stress-induced potentiation of conditioned alcohol reward (Sperling et al., 2010), yohimbine-induced reinstatement of alcohol seeking behavior (Funk et al., 2014), withdrawal-related negative affect and anxiety (Berger et al., 2013; Gillett et al., 2013; Rose et al., 2015; Schank et al., 2012; Valdez and Harshberger, 2012), and enhanced alcohol self-administration after exposure to a cue associated with a KOR agonist (Berger et al., 2013).
