Short-term selection for high and low ethanol intake yields differential baseline and ethanol-induced Fos immunoreactivity in the adolescent Wistar rat brain

DE OLMOS SOLEDAD; FERREYRA A; PAUTASSI RICARDO; FERNANDEZ MACARENA

Mar del plata

Congreso; XXXII Congreso Anual de la Sociedad Argentina de Investigación en Neurociencias; 2017

Sociedad Argentina de Investigacion en Neurociencia

Adolescence is associated with the initiation and escalation of ethanol intake and is characterized by increased and reduced sensitivity to ethanol's appetitive and aversive effects, when compared to adulthood. It is unclear if this this differential sensitivity toethanol?s motivational effects has a casual role in the exacerbated ethanol intake pattern exhibited by adolescents. We performed, in Wistar rats, a short-term selective breeding program, as a function of low- or high-ethanol intake during adolescence. This work measured, in adolescent Wistar rats derived from parents that were selected for high(STDRHI) or low (STDRLO) ethanol consumption, baseline (0.0 g/kg) and ethanol-induced(1.25 or 2.5 g/kg ethanol) Fos immunoreactivity (ir) in central, basolateral and medial amygdaloid nucleus (Bla, Cem and Me, respectively); nucleus accumbens core (AcbC) and ventral tegmental area (VTA). Baseline (i.e., after 0.0 g/kg ethanol) neural activity was significantly greater in STDRHI than in STDRLO rats. STDRLO, but not STDRHI, rats exhibit ethanol-induced Fos-ir in Cem, yet the inverse pattern was found in Me. Moreover, STRDHIrats exhibited an ethanol-induced Fos-ir depression in AcbC. These results are consistent with the possibility of STDRHI rats exhibiting and anxiety-prone phenotype as well as an alteredpattern of response to ethanol?s pharmacological effects.