Impact of early life stress on alcohol consumption and on the short- and long-term responses to alcohol in adolescent female rats
Behavioural Brain Research. 2011-08-01; 221(1): 43-49
DOI: 10.1016/j.bbr.2011.02.033
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We examined the interaction between early life stress and vulnerability to
alcohol in female rats exposed to prenatal restraint stress (PRS rats). First we
studied the impact of PRS on ethanol preference during adolescence. PRS slightly
increased ethanol preference per se, but abolished the effect of social isolation
on ethanol preference. We then studied the impact of PRS on short- and long-term
responses to ethanol focusing on behavioral and neurochemical parameters related
to depression/anxiety. PRS or unstressed adolescent female rats received 10%
ethanol in the drinking water for 4 weeks from PND30 to PND60. At PND60, the
immobility time in the forced-swim test did not differ between PRS and unstressed
rats receiving water alone. Ethanol consumption had no effect in unstressed rats,
but significantly reduced the immobility time in PRS rats. In contrast, a marked
increase in the immobility time was seen after 5 weeks of ethanol withdrawal only
in unstressed rats. Hippocampal levels of neuropeptide Y (NPY) and mGlu1a
metabotropic glutamate receptors were increased at the end of ethanol treatment
only in unstressed rats. Ethanol treatment had no effect on levels of
corticotropin-releasing hormone (CRH) in the hippocampus, striatum, and
prefrontal cortex of both groups of rats. After ethanol withdrawal, hippocampal
levels of mGlu1 receptors were higher in unstressed rats, but lower in PRS rats,
whereas NPY and CRH levels were similar in the two groups of rats. These data
indicate that early life stress has a strong impact on the vulnerability and
responsiveness to ethanol consumption during adolescence.
Copyright © 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.