Abstract 3071 Social isolation recruits amygdala-cortical circuitry to escalate alcohol drinking

Social isolation is a potent psychosocial stressor that elevates alcohol use across species. In adult mice, we find that isolation robustly escalates alcohol drinking in a manner shaped by social rank. Notably, baseline activity in the basolateral amygdala to medial prefrontal cortex (BLA→mPFC) projection reflects individual differences in both social hierarchy and alcohol consumption. Using in vivo calcium imaging, we identify the BLA→mPFC circuit, not general BLA activity, as a key regulator of alcohol drinking, dynamically encoding and predicting alcohol intake.