Sex differences on the impact of Social Isolation during adolescence over cocaine effects in rats: possible role of Wnt canonical pathway.

RAMIREZ, ABRAHAM; YOLDJIAN, MARTIN; KONJUH, CINTIA; PACCHIONI, ALEJANDRA

Buenos Aires

Congreso; SAN 2022 Meeting; 2022

Sociedad Argentina de Investigación en Neurociencias

Sex differences on the impact of SocialIsolation during adolescence over cocaine effects in rats: possible role of Wntcanonical pathway.A. Ramirez1,2,M. Yoldjian1, A. Funes1, C. Konjuh1, A.M.Pacchioni 1,21Laboratorio de Toxicología Experimental, Departamento de Ciencias de losAlimentos y el Medio Ambiente, Facultad de Ciencias Bioquímicas yFarmacéuticas, Universidad Nacional de Rosario, Rosario, Santa Fe, ARGENTINA. 2CONICET-CCTRosario.Cocaine use disorder is a chronic diseasecharacterized by the loss of control over drug-seeking and taking. It has been hypothesizedthat the transition between social use and loss of control is mainly associatedwith vulnerable users. Such susceptibility depends on environmental andbiological factors. Our group is focused on understanding the role of SocialIsolation (SI) and sex, as environmental and biological factors respectively,in the vulnerability to cocaine in rats. Furthermore, we are interested inevaluating the role of the Wnt canonical pathway by measuring the levels ofb-catenin in brain areas. Recently, we showed that 5 days of SI from postnataldays (PND) 30 to 35 decrease b-catenin levels in Prefrontal Cortex (PFC); and increasecocaine response in adult male rats. In the present study, we evaluate if 5days of SI (PND30-35) would induce cocaine sensitization on PND45 as well aschanges on b-catenin levels in PFC, in female and male rats. Our results showedthat SI induced cocaine (5mg/kg i.p.)  sensitization only in male rats (p<0,05).  Also, isolated males displayed lowerexploratory response (p<0,05) and higher anxiety levels (p<0,05) thancontrol. In contrast, female rats showed similar cocaine responses regardlessprevious SI exposure. Moreover, levels of b-catenin in PFC will be analyzed.Our working hypothesis is that SI increases cocaine vulnerability by decreasingthe activity of the Wnt canonical pathway in PFC in a sex specific manner.