Sex-specific hippocampal (HC)-related behavioral and biochemical alterations observed in adolescent rats subjected to voluntary ethanol (EtOH) intake and noise exposure

MOLINA, SJ; BUJÁN, GE; GUELMAN, LR

Virtual

Congreso; XXXV Annual Congress of the Argentine Society for Research in Neuroscience (SAN) 2020; 2020

Sociedad Argentina de Investigación en Neurociencias

EtOH intake in the presence of noise is usual in human adolescence. Animal models studies have shown that both stimuli presented separately might have detrimental effects on the CNS, such as oxidative imbalance and behavioral alterations. Therefore, the aim of this work was to investigate the effects of EtOH intake and noise exposure on HC-related behavioral and biochemical parameters in adolescent rats.Wistar rats (28-days-old) were subjected to 10% EtOH using the two-bottle choice drinking-in-the-dark paradigm, during 4h/d for 4 days. After the last session, rats were exposed to noise (95-97 dB, 2h). Finally, Open field and Y-maze tests were performed to evaluate behavior and HC tissue was dissected to assess reactive oxygen species (ROS) levels and catalase activity (CAT).Results showed a significant decrease in exploration in females and a decrease in contextual memory in males in EtOH, noise and EtOH+Noise groups when compared with controls. In addition, an increase in ROS levels was found after EtOH intake in female rats and after noise exposure in males as well as in EtOH+Noise groups in both sexes. Finally, no significant changes in anxiety-like behavior and CAT were found in either group. These findings suggest that EtOH and noise exposure might produce different HC-related behavioral and biochemical changes, some of which are sex-specific. Further investigations are needed to understand the biochemical mechanisms that could underlie the behavioral changes.