Anxiolitic effects of ethanol in preweanling rats measured by means of the light-dark paradigm

ARIAS C, COLOMBETTI A, PUETA M, MOLINA JC

Huerta Grande, Cordoba

Workshop; First Joint meeting of the Argentine society for Neurosciences and the Argentine workshop in Neuroscience; 2009

varias

-One of the properties of acutely administered ethanol is the reduction of anxiety. In infant and adult rats it has been shown that ethanol has anxiolitic effects in a variety of paradigms. The light-dark test is a paradigm usually utilized to evaluate anxiolitic effects of drugs (including ethanol) based on the innate aversion of rodents to brightly illuminated areas.The goals of the present study are o were: a) to evaluate the sensitivity of this test to the anxiolitic effects of ethanol in preweanling rats, and b) to analyze whether ethanol intake in infant rats varies as a function of whether the intake test is o was conducted in a brightly or dark condition. In Exp 1, 14-day-old rats were given 0 or 0.5 g/kg ethanol 5 minutes before testing in the light-dark test. In Exp 2 preweanling rats were tested in terms of ethanol (6%) or water intake in a brightly or in a dark environment during two consecutive days. In Exp 1 ethanol increased the amount of time that pups expend in the brightly area. This result indicates that this technique is useful to evaluate anxiolitic effects in infant rats. Additionally, this result is consistent with previous studies showing anxiolitic effects of ethanol in preweanling rats. In Exp 2 subjects o animals o rats tested in the light condition drank more ethanol (relative to water) than animals tested in the dark condition, indicating that the anxiolitic effect of ethanol may contribute to the acceptance of the drug in preweanling rats.-