Chapter 59 - Social Isolation and Ethanol Drinking: A Preclinical Model of Addiction Vulnerability in Males, but Not Females

Abstract

In male rats, social isolation during adolescence has been shown to increase a number of behaviors associated with increased vulnerability to addiction. For example, social isolation results in greater anxiety-like behaviors, increased locomotion in a novel environment, and greater ethanol intake and preference. Several laboratories are now using this model to successfully identify neurobiological substrates that may be associated with increased risk of addiction. Unfortunately, studies suggest that adolescent social isolation does not engender a similar addiction-vulnerable phenotype in female rats. This represents a critical gap in knowledge given that women do have high rates of comorbidity for anxiety, mood, and addiction disorders. A major future goal is to develop a preclinical model of addiction vulnerability in female rats that is as useful to the study of behavioral and neurobiological correlates of addiction as the social isolation model continues to be in male subjects.