Experiments in this proposal will determine if and how cessation of ethanol drinking can produce depression like behavior, and also if cessation of ethanol drinking, when ethanol is consumed voluntarily, produces decreases in adult neurogenesis. Experiments will characterize the time course over which depression-like behavior emerges following cessation of ethanol drinking and also if sub-chronic ethanol drinking produces depression-like behavior. C-fos immunohistochemistry will be used to determine areas of the brain, which are activated in mice that express alcohol-induced depression-like behavior and mice that have not consumed alcohol and do not express depression-like behavior. Changes in neurogenesis due to cessation ? of voluntary ethanol drinking will be characterized. Experiments will involve testing pharmacotherapies with antidepressant potential to determine if they can reverse depression-like behavior induced by cessation of ethanol drinking. ? ?
Stevenson, Jennie R; Schroeder, Jason P; Nixon, Kimberly et al. (2009) Abstinence following alcohol drinking produces depression-like behavior and reduced hippocampal neurogenesis in mice. Neuropsychopharmacology 34:1209-22 |