Chronic moderate alcohol drinking alters insulin release without affecting cognitive and emotion-like behaviors in rats

Nelson, Nnamdi G.; Suhaidi, Faten A.; Law, Wen Xuan; Liang, Nu-Chu

doi:10.1016/j.alcohol.2017.12.001

Cited by 13 publications

(14 citation statements)

References 62 publications

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“…Therefore, we cannot rule out the possibility that changes in open arm exploration were affected by alterations in general activity. Similar increase in exploratory activity levels on the EPM was described in Long-Evans female rats following 6-week intermittent access to 20% ethanol in comparison with males exposed to the same procedure [44]. Thus, the higher activity in the EPM observed in females may reflect sex differences in stress/ fear coping strategies rather than reduced anxiety-like behavior.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 61%

Sex differences in traumatic stress reactivity in rats with and without a history of alcohol drinking

2020

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Background: Alcohol misuse and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) are highly comorbid, and treatment outcomes are worse in individuals with both conditions. Although more men report experiencing traumatic events than women, the lifetime prevalence of PTSD is twice as high in females. Despite these data trends in humans, preclinical studies of traumatic stress reactivity have been performed almost exclusively in male animals. Methods: This study was designed to examine sex differences in traumatic stress reactivity in alcohol-naive rats (experiment 1) and rats given intermittent access to 20% ethanol in a 2-bottle choice paradigm for 5 weeks (experiment 2). Animals were exposed to predator odor (bobcat urine) and tested for contextual avoidance 24 h later; unstressed controls were never exposed to predator odor. We evaluated changes in physiological arousal using the acoustic startle response (ASR) test at day 2 post-stress and anxiety-like behavior measured in the elevated plus-maze (EPM) at day 17 post-stress. In experiment 3, time course of corticosterone response was examined in male and female rats following exposure to predator odor stress. Results: Alcohol-naive males and females exposed to predator odor displayed blunted weight gain 24 h post-stress, but only a subset of stressed animals exhibited avoidance behavior. In alcohol-drinking animals, the proportion of avoiders was higher in males than females, and predator odor exposure increased ASR in males only. Stressed females exhibited blunted ASR relative to unstressed females and stressed males, regardless of alcohol drinking history. Alcohol-experienced females presented lower anxiety-like behavior and higher general activity in the EPM in comparison with alcohol-experienced males. Plasma corticosterone levels were higher in females immediately after predator odor exposure until 60 min post-stress relative to males. Conclusions: We report robust sex differences in behavioral and endocrine responses to bobcat urine exposure in adult Wistar rats. Also, males with a history of chronic moderate alcohol drinking exhibited increased traumatic stress reactivity relative to alcohol-drinking females. Our findings emphasize the importance of considering sex as a biological variable in the investigation of traumatic stress effects on physiology and behavior.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 61%

Sex differences in traumatic stress reactivity in rats with and without a history of alcohol drinking

2020

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“…Contrary to prior reports [56], we found that male rats consumed more alcohol than females, and neither males nor females significantly escalated ethanol intake during the 5 weeks of intermittent 20% ethanol drinking. It is worth mentioning that our animals were pair-housed throughout the experiment, whereas in most studies using this protocol rats were housed individually [42,57].…”

Section: Discussioncontrasting

confidence: 99%

“…Males with a history of alcohol drinking spent less time in the open arms of the elevated plusmaze and exhibited reduced general activity on the EPM relative to alcohol-drinking females. A similar reduction in general activity on the EPM was described in Long-Evans male rats after a 6week intermittent-access to 20% ethanol in comparison to females exposed to the same procedure [56]. The higher open arm times in females may reflect sex differences in stress/fear coping strategies rather than "less anxiety-like behavior".…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 57%

Sex differences in traumatic stress reactivity of rats with a history of alcohol drinking

Albrechet‐Souza

Schratz

Gilpin

2019

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Background: Alcohol misuse and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) are highly comorbid and treatment outcomes are worse in individuals with both conditions. Although more men report experiencing traumatic events than women, the lifetime prevalence of PTSD is twice as high in females. Despite these data trends in humans, preclinical studies of traumatic stress reactivity have been performed almost exclusively in male animals. Methods:This study was designed to examine sex differences in traumatic stress reactivity in alcohol-naïve rats and rats given intermittent access to 20% ethanol in a 2-bottle choice paradigm for 5 weeks. Rats were exposed to predator odor (bobcat urine) and tested for avoidance of the odor-paired context 24 hours later; unstressed Controls were never exposed to odor. Two days after stress, we measured physiological arousal using the acoustic startle response (ASR) test. We also measured anxiety-like behavior using the elevated plus-maze (EPM) and circulating corticosterone levels before and immediately after odor exposure. Results:Male and female rats exposed to predator odor displayed blunted weight gain 24 hours post-stress, but only a subset of stressed animals exhibited avoidance behavior. Chronic intermittent alcohol drinking increased the proportion of Avoiders in males and predator odor exposure increased ASR in these animals. Predator odor stress reduced ASR in females relative to unstressed females and stressed males, regardless of alcohol drinking history. Bobcat urine exposure did not promote persistent anxiety-like behavior, but alcohol-experienced males exhibited reduced activity in the EPM in comparison to alcohol-experienced females.3 Furthermore, predator odor increased circulating corticosterone levels in females relative to males and baseline. Conclusions:We report robust sex differences in behavioral and endocrine responses to bobcat urine exposure in adult Wistar rats. Also, chronic moderate alcohol drinking increased traumatic stress reactivity in males but not females. Our findings emphasize the importance of considering sex as a biological variable in the investigation of traumatic stress effects on physiology and behavior. BackgroundPost-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a chronic psychiatric disease that is seen in some but not all individuals after experiencing a life-threatening traumatic event. Major diagnostic criteria for PTSD include re-experiencing the traumatic event, negative affective state, exaggerated startle responses and persistent avoidance of trauma-related cues [1]. Women are twice as likely to develop PTSD after trauma [2, 3] and women with trauma exposure and/or PTSD exhibit more sensitivity to and less tolerance of negative emotions [4,5].Alcohol use disorder (AUD) is one of the most common co-occurring conditions among individuals diagnosed with PTSD [6,7]. Approximately one-third of individuals with lifetime PTSD also meet criteria for AUD [8]. Some populations, such as military personnel, are at high risk for AUD and PTSD comorbidities. For...

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“…Furthermore, most rodent studies that reported memory impairments administered a dose of alcohol that rapidly elevates BEC above the defined intoxication threshold of 80 mg/dl (Coleman et al 2014;Kuzmin et al 2012;Pascual et al 2007). By contrast, we recently showed that chronic moderate alcohol consumption from adolescence to young adulthood did not alter object recognition memory in rats (Nelson et al 2017). How the effects of moderate alcohol consumption on food intake and cognitive behavior will be modified by simultaneous marijuana use is yet to be explored.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 92%

“…Sucrose preference: During abstinence from THC and alcohol, sucrose preference test was used to assess intake of a mildly rewarding sucrose solution (Carlin et al 2016;Nelson et al 2017). On the test days ( Fig.…”

Section: Behavioral Testsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Combined ∆9-tetrahydrocannabinol and moderate alcohol administration: effects on ingestive behaviors in adolescent male rats

et al. 2018

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Rationale-Whereas co-use of alcohol and marijuana is prevalent in adolescents, the effects of such drug co-exposure on ingestive and cognitive behaviors remain largely unexplored. We hypothesized that co-exposure to alcohol and Δ 9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), the main psychoactive constitute of marijuana, alters feeding behavior and cognition differently from either drug alone. Methods-Male rats received daily THC (3-20 mg/kg/day) or oil vehicle through subcutaneous injection or consumption of a cookie with access to saccharin or saccharin-sweetened alcohol during adolescence (P30-45). Barnes maze and sucrose preference tests were applied to assess spatial memory and behavioral flexibility and abstinence-related anhedonia, respectively. Results-Subcutaneous THC did not affect alcohol intake, but dose-dependently increased acute (3-h) chow intake and reduced weight gain. Moderate alcohol consumption reduced the acute hyperphagic effect of subcutaneous THC. By contrast, oral THC at a dose > 5 mg/kg robustly reduced alcohol intake without affecting 3-h chow intake. At this dose, some rats stopped consuming the THC-laced cookies. Furthermore, oral THC reduced weight gain, and co-exposure to alcohol alleviated this effect. Chronic subcutaneous, but not oral, THC reduced sucrose intake during abstinence. Neither treatment impaired cognitive behaviors in the Barnes maze. Conclusion-Moderate alcohol and THC consumption can interact to elicit unique outcomes on ingestive behaviors and energy balance. Importantly, this study established a novel model of voluntary alcohol and THC consumption for studying mechanisms underlying the consequences of adolescent onset co-use of the two drugs.

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Chronic moderate alcohol drinking alters insulin release without affecting cognitive and emotion-like behaviors in rats

Cited by 13 publications

References 62 publications

Sex differences in traumatic stress reactivity in rats with and without a history of alcohol drinking

Sex differences in traumatic stress reactivity in rats with and without a history of alcohol drinking

Sex differences in traumatic stress reactivity of rats with a history of alcohol drinking

Combined ∆9-tetrahydrocannabinol and moderate alcohol administration: effects on ingestive behaviors in adolescent male rats

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