Alcohol use typically begins during adolescence in humans, with the age of initial use strongly predicting later alcohol abuse. Adolescents of a variety of species, including humans, differ neurobehaviorally from their adult counterparts; characteristic traits include an altered responsiveness to stressors as well as alterations in brain regions sensitive to activation by stressors and implicated in mediating the reinforcing effects of alcohol and other drugs of abuse. Yet, despite frequent alcohol use by adolescents and the implications of the early use for later abuse, study of alcohol and adolescence is still in its infancy. The work outlined in this proposal will use an animal model to examine the reinforcing efficacy of ethanol in adolescence, effects of stressors on this efficacy, and potential long-term consequences of adolescent exposure for later intake of ethanol. These issues will be examined using a model of adolescence in rats in which, during a compressed time period of around 2 weeks, developing rats exhibit certain characteristic neurobehavioral features of adolescence similar to those reported in adolescents of other species, including humans. Both males and females will be examined, due to reports of gender differences in ethanol responsiveness but the limited attention previously given this issue in animal studies with alcohol.
Three specific aims are proposed: 1) to examine whether the reinforcing efficacy of ethanol is altered in adolescents relative to adults, and the role of chronic stress and corticosterone in contributing to age-related differences in ethanol reinforcement; 2) to establish whether alcohol intake in adolescence is more affected by stressors than such intake in adulthood; and 3) to determine whether prior exposure to ethanol and/or stress has a greater impact on subsequent ethanol consumption when that exposure occurs during adolescence than in adulthood. The results of this basic research should provide an essential initial base of data regarding ethanol reinforcement and stress during adolescence as well as potential long-lasting consequences of such exposure.

Agency
National Institute of Health (NIH)
Institute
National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA)
Type
Research Project (R01)
Project #
5R01AA012150-04
Application #
6533611
Study Section
Alcohol and Toxicology Subcommittee 4 (ALTX)
Program Officer
Witt, Ellen
Project Start
1999-09-30
Project End
2004-08-31
Budget Start
2002-09-01
Budget End
2003-08-31
Support Year
4
Fiscal Year
2002
Total Cost
$228,962
Indirect Cost
Name
State University of NY, Binghamton
Department
Psychology
Type
Schools of Arts and Sciences
DUNS #
090189965
City
Binghamton
State
NY
Country
United States
Zip Code
13902
Fernández, Macarena Soledad; Fabio, María Carolina; Miranda-Morales, Roberto Sebastián et al. (2016) Age-related effects of chronic restraint stress on ethanol drinking, ethanol-induced sedation, and on basal and stress-induced anxiety response. Alcohol 51:89-100
Molina, Juan Carlos; Spear, Norman E; Spear, Linda P et al. (2007) The International society for developmental psychobiology 39th annual meeting symposium: Alcohol and development: beyond fetal alcohol syndrome. Dev Psychobiol 49:227-42
Varlinskaya, Elena I; Spear, Linda P (2006) Differences in the social consequences of ethanol emerge during the course of adolescence in rats: social facilitation, social inhibition, and anxiolysis. Dev Psychobiol 48:146-61
Miller, Michael W; Spear, Linda P (2006) The alcoholism generator. Alcohol Clin Exp Res 30:1466-9
Ristuccia, Robert C; Spear, Linda P (2005) Sensitivity and tolerance to autonomic effects of ethanol in adolescent and adult rats during repeated vapor inhalation sessions. Alcohol Clin Exp Res 29:1809-20
Barron, Susan; White, Aaron; Swartzwelder, H Scott et al. (2005) Adolescent vulnerabilities to chronic alcohol or nicotine exposure: findings from rodent models. Alcohol Clin Exp Res 29:1720-5
Doremus, Tamara L; Brunell, Steven C; Rajendran, Pottayil et al. (2005) Factors influencing elevated ethanol consumption in adolescent relative to adult rats. Alcohol Clin Exp Res 29:1796-808
Silveri, Marisa M; Spear, Linda Patia (2004) Characterizing the ontogeny of ethanol-associated increases in corticosterone. Alcohol 32:145-55
Rajendran, P; Spear, L P (2004) The effects of ethanol on spatial and nonspatial memory in adolescent and adult rats studied using an appetitive paradigm. Ann N Y Acad Sci 1021:441-4
Douglas, Lewis A; Varlinskaya, Elena I; Spear, Linda P (2004) Rewarding properties of social interactions in adolescent and adult male and female rats: impact of social versus isolate housing of subjects and partners. Dev Psychobiol 45:153-62

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