CONICET | Buscador de Institutos y Recursos Humanos

Social attachment plays an important role in progeny development. Different social experiences during early development and throughout life can affect ethanol use and abuse. In the present study we aimed to analyze if different rearing conditions (mono- or biparental care), in a non-monogamous mice strain, may have a differential impact on adolescent behavior and initiation to ethanol consumption. C57BL/6 adolescent mice were reared in a monoparental (MP, only mother) or biparental (BP, cohabitation of father-mother since copulation) condition until weaning (postnatal day, PD, 21). At PDs 28-30, animals were evaluated in a 4-hr daily, double-bottle ethanol consumption test (10% ethanol vs. water) during three weeks and four days per week. In this test animals were not food or water deprived and have access to food during the test. A different group of animals were evaluated at PDs 34-37 in a modified version of the concentric square field. This test allows simultaneous measurement of different behavioral patterns. Some of the areas evoke shelter-seeking behavior, whereas others evoke exploration, risk assessment and risk taking. Results from consumption test indicated a strong effect of parental care condition. Since the fifth day of test, MP adolescents consumed significantly more ethanol than BP counterparts. No difference were observed in water intake. When analyzing the behavior of the adolescents, we found that MP subjects displayed more anxiogenic-like behavior than BP adolescents. The first group spent significantly more time in a dark shelter area and less time in a brightly illuminated bridge. Taking these results together, it seems that absence of the father during lactation increases anxiety responses in the litter that could in turn increases initiation of ethanol consumption during adolescence. Further research is being conducted aimed to analyze the neurobiology corresponding of this phenomenon and parents? behavior during this period.