Individual differences predictive of ethanol-induced reinforcement and ethanol intake during adolescence

PAUTASSI RM

Concepción

Workshop; First Joint Meeting on Alcohol and other Drugs of Abuse: from molecules to human disorders; 2013

Latin American Society for Biomedical Research on Alcoholism andLatin American Research Network in Drug Abuse

Likelihood of alcohol use disorders is greater in adolescence than in other developmental stages. Greater novelty-seeking, enhanced sensitivity to stress or to ethanol-induced appetitive effects, or lessened sensitivity to ethanol-induced sedation may underlie adolescent vulnerability to alcohol-related problems. The present work describes studies assessing susceptibility to ethanol reinforcement and intake in subpopulations of rats that differed in their innate levels of novelty seeking or anxiety patterns, or in their level of response to ethanol. In an early study we found that binge ethanol exposure early on adolescence enhanced ethanol intake and that adolescents exhibiting greater sensibility to the motor activating effects of binge ethanol administration were even more predispose to drink ethanol. Subsequent work indicated that the motor stimulating effect of ethanol and the facilitative effect of ethanol binge exposure on later ethanol intake are greater in adolescent than in adult rats. Moreover, enhanced level of exploration in an open-field at adolescence was associated with greater ethanol-induced conditioned place preference and reduced ethanol-induced conditioned taste aversion. Recent work indicated that adolescents exhibiting reduced exploration of the open arms of an elevated plus maze and higher anxiety response in a light-dark maze drank significantly more ethanol than counterparts with average levels of anxiety. Similar enhancement in ethanol intake was found in adolescents that had been chronically exposed to maternal deprivation. These results suggest that certain subpopulations of adolescents ? those with innate or stress-induced high levels of anxiety, exacerbated novelty-seeking response or enhanced sensitivity to ethanol-induced psychomotor effects ? may be at greater risk of elevated alcohol intake.