FIGURE 4.
Expression of C‐C motif chemokine and receptors in age‐matched moderate drinking control (CON) and alcohol use disorder (AUD) postmortem human orbitofrontal cortex (OFC). (A) Reverse transcription PCR (RT‐PCR) analysis revealed AUD increased expression of CCL8 (3.5‐fold), CCL7 (1.5‐fold), CCL13 (2.9‐fold), and CCL5 (2.4‐fold) relative to CONs. (B) Modified unbiased stereological assessment revealed an approximate 2.6‐fold increase of CCL2+IR in the AUD OFC relative to CONs. Representative photomicrographs of CCL2+IR in the OFC of a CON and AUD sample. Black arrowheads indicate CCL2+IR cells. Scale bar = 30 μm. (C) Immunofluorescent co‐labeling revealed a high degree of CCL2 (green) colocalization with the neuronal marker NeuN (red) in the postmortem human OFC. White arrows indicate CCL2+IR cells that colocalize with NeuN (top; yellow). Scale bar = 20 μm. (D) RT‐PCR analysis revealed AUD increased expression of CCR1 (1.5‐fold) and CCR2 (2.5‐fold) relative to CONs. (E) Simplified schematic depicting C‐C motif chemokines interacting with C‐C receptors. RT‐PCR analyses were run in triplicate. Data are presented as mean ±SEM. * p ≤ 0.05, **p < 0.01