Age-related effects of chronic restraint stress on ethanol drinking, ethanol-induced sedation, and on basal and stress-induced anxiety response

FERNÁNDEZ MS; FABIO MS; MIRANDA MORALES RS; VIRGOLINI MB; DE GIOVANNI L; HANSEN M; PAUTASSI R

ALCOHOL

ELSEVIER SCIENCE INC

Lugar: Amsterdam; Año: 2016

0741-8329

Adolescents are sensitive to the anxiolytic effect of ethanol, andevidence suggests that they may be more sensitive to stress than adults. Relativelylittle is known, however, about age-related differences in stress modulation ofethanol drinking or stress modulation of ethanol-induced sedation and hypnosis.We observed that the chronic restraint stress transiently exacerbatedfree-choice ethanol drinking in adolescent, but not in adult rats. Restraint stress altered exploration patternsof a light dark box apparatus in adolescents and adults. Stressed animals spentsignificantly more time in the white area of the maze and made significantly moretransfers between compartments than their non-stressed peers. Behavioral response to acute stress, on the other hand, wasmodulated by prior restraintstress only in adults. Adolescents, unlikeadults, exhibited ethanol-induced motor stimulation in an open field. Stress increasedthe latency to loss the righting reflex after a high ethanol dose, yet thiseffect was similar at both ages. Ethanol-inducedsleep time was much higher in adults than in adolescent rats, yet stressdiminished ethanol-induced sleep time only in adults. The study indicatesage-related differences that may increase the risk for initiation andescalation in alcohol drinking.