Ethanol withdrawal-induced adaptations in prefrontal corticotropin releasing factor receptor 1-expressing neurons regulate anxiety and conditioned rewarding effects of ethanol

Prefrontal circuits are thought to underlie aberrant emotion contributing to relapse in abstinence; however, the discrete cell-types and mechanisms remain largely unknown. Corticotropin-releasing factor and its cognate type-1 receptor, a prominent brain stress system, is implicated in anxiety and alcohol use disorder (AUD). Here, we tested the hypothesis that medial prefrontal cortex CRF1-expressing (mPFC CRF1+ ) neurons comprise a distinct population that exhibits neuroadaptations following withdrawal from chronic ethanol underlying AUD-related behavior. We found that mPFC CRF1+ neurons comprise a glutamatergic population with distinct electrophysiological properties and regulate anxiety and conditioned rewarding effects of ethanol. Notably, mPFC CRF1+ neurons undergo unique neuroadaptations compared to neighboring neurons including a remarkable decrease in excitability and glutamatergic signaling selectively in withdrawal, which is driven in part by the basolateral amygdala. To gain mechanistic insight into these electrophysiological adaptations, we sequenced the transcriptome of mPFC CRF1+ neurons and found that withdrawal leads to an increase in colony-stimulating factor 1 (CSF1) in this population. We found that selective overexpression of CSF1 in mPFC CRF1+ neurons is sufficient to decrease glutamate transmission, heighten anxiety, and abolish ethanol reinforcement, providing mechanistic insight into the observed mPFC CRF1+ synaptic adaptations in withdrawal that drive these behavioral phenotypes. Together, these findings highlight mPFC CRF1+ neurons as a critical site of enduring adaptations that may contribute to the persistent vulnerability to ethanol misuse in abstinence, and CSF1 as a novel target for therapeutic intervention for withdrawal-related negative affect.