GABAAR activation in the NAc shell is implicated in the ingestion of preferred substances (Basso & Kelley 1999; Baldo & Kelley 2007); therefore, we tested whether the α4 subunit contributes to intake of the preferred substance, sucrose. Ad-shα4 microinfusion into the NAc shell did not significantly alter active lever responding for a 2% sucrose solution (Fig. 5a; F(3,40) = 0.63, P = 0.59), inactive lever responding (Fig. 5b; F(3,40) = 0.56, P = 0.64) or total sucrose intake (Fig. 5c; F(3,40) = 1.024, P = 0.44), suggesting that the effects of GABAAR α4 subunit reduction are specific to ethanol. Baseline sucrose consumed by the Ad-NSS group was 4.98 ± 0.612 ml and Ad-shα4-1 group was 5.12 ± 0.573 ml whereas sucrose consumed on day 18 after viral infusion was 4.15 ± 0.687 ml by the Ad-NSS group and 5.26 ± 0.97 ml by the Ad-shα4-1 group.
