Moderate Adolescent Ethanol Vapor Exposure and Acute Stress in Adulthood: Sex-Dependent Effects on Social Behavior and Ethanol Intake in Sprague-Dawley Rats.

Meredith E Gamble,Marvin R Diaz

doi:10.3390/brainsci10110829

Abstract

Adolescent alcohol use can lead to numerous consequences, including altered stress reactivity and higher risk for later anxiety and alcohol use disorders. Many studies have examined the consequences of heavy ethanol exposure in adolescence, but far less is understood about lower levels of intoxication. The present study examined moderate adolescent ethanol exposure as a possible factor in increasing stress reactivity in adulthood, measured through general and social anxiety-like behaviors, as well voluntary ethanol intake. Male and female Sprague–Dawley rats underwent an adolescent chronic intermittent ethanol (aCIE) vapor exposure during early adolescence, reaching moderate blood ethanol concentrations. Animals then underwent two days of forced swim stress in adulthood. We found that ethanol-exposed males consumed more ethanol than their air counterparts and an interesting stress and ethanol exposure interaction in males. There were no significant effects on voluntary drinking in females. However, the social interaction test revealed increased play-fighting behavior in ethanol-exposed females and reduced social preference in females after two days of stress exposure. Overall, this work provides evidence for sex-specific, long-term effects of moderate aCIE and susceptibility to acute stress in adulthood.

Highlights

Adolescence is a period of extensive neurodevelopmental and behavioral changes and has been associated with heightened levels of risk-taking and reward-seeking behaviors, including problematic alcohol use [1,2]
Continued research is a necessity in further identifying the ways alcohol consumption during this highly vulnerable adolescent period affects an individual in the long term, especially in regard to the stress response system, and at what levels of intoxication these life-long consequences may emerge
As of 2018, 14.4 million adults had alcohol use disorder (AUD) [3], and 19.1% of U.S adults are affected by an anxiety disorder every year [66]

Summary

Introduction

Adolescence is a period of extensive neurodevelopmental and behavioral changes and has been associated with heightened levels of risk-taking and reward-seeking behaviors, including problematic alcohol use [1,2]. In the United States, young adolescence, between the ages of twelve and fourteen years old, has been identified as a critical age for the initiation of and rapid increase in use of alcohol, with more than ten percent meeting criteria for alcohol use disorder (AUD) within the first year of initiation [4]. This early initiation of alcohol use is strongly associated with increased alcohol drinking and heightened risk for developing AUD [5,6]. Adolescent alcohol use has been linked with higher rates of other forms of psychopathology, including anxiety and depression [9,10,11,12]

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