Sex Differences in Ethanol Intake and Sensitivity to Aversive Effects during Adolescence and Adulthood

Abstract

Aims: The present experiments examined sex differences in ethanol intake and in the influence of a social context on aversive properties of ethanol in adolescent and adult Sprague-Dawley rats. Methods: Experiment 1 examined ethanol intake, with animals receiving daily 2-h access to ethanol and water for 8 days. Experiment 2 assessed the aversive effects of ethanol using a conditioned taste aversion (CTA) paradigm, with animals placed either alone or with a same-sex, same-age peer during the ethanol intoxication phase of conditioning. Results: Ethanol intake varied with both age and sex, although the sex differences emerging at each age were opposite in nature. Adolescent males consumed more ethanol relative to their body weights than adolescent females and adults of both sexes, whereas adult females generally consumed more than adult males. The CTA test revealed no sex differences in aversive effects of ethanol in adults, whereas adolescent males were less sensitive to the aversive properties of ethanol than adolescent females when intoxication occurred in the presence of a peer. Ethanol-induced CTA was evident in adults at lower doses than in adolescents. Conclusions: These results suggest that age differences in ethanol intake in males and sex differences in intake during adolescence may be associated in part with the relative insensitivity of the male adolescents to ethanol's aversive properties, especially when intoxication occurred in a social context. However, the elevated ethanol intake observed in adult females relative to their male counterparts appears to be unrelated to the aversive properties of ethanol.

The Effects of Proximal and Distal Social Stimulation on Ethanol Intake in Male and Female CD-1 Mice

“…This pattern of sex differences in ethanol drinking is consistent with studies reporting that isolation-housed female mice and rats produced elevated ethanol intake relative to isolation-housed male mice and rats [31,32,33,34,35,36]. The present results add to a growing body of literature indicating that these sex differences are not specific to drinking ethanol in isolation [14,15]; see also [31].…”

Cannabinoid exposure in pubertal rats increases spontaneous ethanol consumption and NMDA receptor associated protein levels

“…This finding is consistent with previous studies showing different rewarding effects of ethanol in pubertal than juvenile or adult rats (Philpot et al 2003) and higher beer intake and binge-like drinking patterns during puberty (Hargreaves et al 2009). Additionally, adolescent rats are less sensitive to ethanol's aversive properties than adults, measured by conditioned taste aversion (Vetter-O'Hagen et al 2009). Our finding of enhanced ethanol intake in non-treated pubertal animals, and also the increased stimulatory effects of WIN on pubertal ethanol intake, might be related to some extent to the higher activity of the ECB system at puberty onset (for review see Schneider, 2008) and the higher CB 1 receptor expression observed in the present study.…”

Una revisión de la literatura experimental sobre los efectos motivacionales del alcohol y su modulación por factores biológicos y ambientales.

“…29, nº 3 (octubre) Vetter-O´Hagen et al (2009), examinaron y ampliaron datos en relación con esta cuestión, utilizando un modelo de acceso limitado (2 h) a etanol. Sus resultados indicaron que el consumo de etanol varía, tanto en función del sexo como de la edad, aunque las diferencias sexuales que emergen en cada edad son opuestas.…”

“…De hecho, la mayor parte de los estudios, realizados tanto con humanos (revisado en Song et al, 2007), como con animales (ver Anderson, Varinskaya y Spear, 2010;Doremus et al, 2005;Garcia-Burgos et al, 2009;Song et al, 2007;Vetter-O´Hagen et al, 2009), indican que los individuos adolescentes consumen mayores cantidades de alcohol que los adultos, probablemente debido a diferencias en los niveles hormonales y de neuroadaptación.…”

“…Los datos recopilados a partir de estas investigaciones parecen indicar que los adolescentes, en general, son menos sensibles a una amplia gama de efectos sedativos (narcosis, coordinación motora, etc. ), aversivos y estimulantes del etanol (por ejemplo, sensibilización conductual) (Vetter-O´Hagen et al, 2009;Anderson et al, 2010), pero sí muestran mayor afectación cognitiva después del tratamiento con la droga, y mayor sensibilidad a los efectos positivos reforzantes del etanol, evaluados mediante CPL (revisado en Pautassi et al, 2010).…”