Early adolescence ethanol exposure promotes ethanol self-administration following binge-eating episodes in adult female wistar rats

TERESA APARICIO MESCUA; LEANDRO RUIZ-LEYVA; AGUSTÍN SALGUERO; IGNACIO MORÓN HENCHE; PAUTASSI, RICARDO M.

Granada

Congreso; IBRO 11th World Congress of Neuroscience; 2023

International Brain Research Organization

Ethanol drinking begins during adolescence and, particularlywhen it occurs in a binge-like pattern, exerts lingering adverseconsequences. Pre-clinical studies indicate that intermittent ethanolexposure (IEA, a model of repeated ethanol intoxication), or bingeeating (BE) can increase subsequent ethanol consumption. It isunknown if the promoting effects of BE upon ethanol drinking arefound in female rats and are modulated by IEA at adolescence. Thisstudy assessed interactive effects between IEA and BE, upon ethanoldrinking. Female Wistar rats were given 4.0 g/kg ethanol, everyother day from postnatal day 25?45. At adulthood, they wereexposed to sessions in which a brief offering of a sizeable portionof highly palatable sugary pills was followed by a 120-min exposureto an ethanol bottle. The results indicate that exploratory activityand recognition memory was not affected by the IEA. BE alone had amild promoting effect on ethanol ingestion. Those rats that underwent IEA and BE, however, exhibited heightened and sustainedethanol self-administration (average of 2.12 g/kg/120 min, vs 1.15g/kg/120 min of the other groups), that persisted throughout the BEsessions. IEA and a history of BE also promoted ethanol intake orpreference in a two-bottle endpoint test. In conclusion the studysuggests that exposure to IEA exerts, when followed by BE atadulthood, promoting effects upon ethanol intake, particularly atconcentrations ≥ 6%.