Abstract
Monoamine neurotransmitter activity in brain reward, limbic, and motor areas play key roles in the motivation to misuse alcohol and can become modified by exercise in a manner that may affect alcohol craving. This study investigated the influence of daily moderate physical activity on monoamine-related neurochemical concentrations across the mouse brain in response to high volume ethanol ingestion. Adult female C57BL/6J mice were housed with or without 2.5 h of daily access to running wheels for 30 days. On the last 5 days, mice participated in the voluntary binge-like ethanol drinking procedure, “Drinking in the dark” (DID). Mice were sampled immediately following the final episode of DID. Monoamine-related neurochemical concentrations were measured across brain regions comprising reward, limbic, and motor circuits using ultra High-Performance Liquid Chromatography (UHPLC). The results suggest that physical activity status did not influence ethanol ingestion during DID. Moreover, daily running wheel access only mildly influenced alcohol-related norepinephrine concentrations in the hypothalamus and prefrontal cortex, as well as serotonin turnover in the hippocampus. However, access to alcohol during DID eliminated wheel running-related decreases of norepinephrine, serotonin, and 5-HIAA content in the hypothalamus, but also to a lesser extent for norepinephrine in the hippocampus and caudal cortical areas. Finally, alcohol access increased serotonin and dopamine-related neurochemical turnover in the striatum and brainstem areas, regardless of physical activity status. Together, these data provide a relatively thorough assessment of monoamine-related neurochemical levels across the brain in response to voluntary binge-patterned ethanol drinking, but also adds to a growing body of research questioning the utility of moderate physical activity as an intervention to curb alcohol abuse.
Highlights
Alcohol abuse can cause debilitating health issues, despite being amongst the top preventable contributors to worldwide death
This study examined the impact of moderate physical activity on monoamine-related neurochemical responses to binge-like ethanol drinking across mouse brain areas that comprise reward, limbic, and motor systems
The results provided several key findings with regards to the impact of physical activity status and alcohol ingestion on monoamine levels throughout the brain
Summary
Alcohol abuse can cause debilitating health issues, despite being amongst the top preventable contributors to worldwide death. Evidence indicates that regularly engaging in moderate physical activity may have tremendous therapeutic value for substance use disorders, and may be a beneficial intervention to curb alcohol abuse (Goodwin, 2003). Individuals that regularly exercise are less likely to engage in substance abuse or experience relapse during recovery from drug dependence (Goodwin, 2003; Smith and Lynch, 2012). The impact of physical activity status on alcohol abuse, in particular, remains less clear, as reports with human subjects and rodent models have demonstrated varied outcomes (Giesen et al, 2015; Leasure et al, 2015; Manthou et al, 2016; Horrell et al, 2020). The possibility remains that these exercise-induced adaptations may influence the motivation to misuse alcohol
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