{"id":5475,"date":"2022-04-18T07:16:00","date_gmt":"2022-04-18T11:16:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sites.miamioh.edu\/undergraduate-research-forum\/?p=5475"},"modified":"2022-04-22T09:53:14","modified_gmt":"2022-04-22T13:53:14","slug":"c49-effects-of-adolescent-benzodiazepine-exposure-on-alcohol-intake-and-tolerance","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sites.miamioh.edu\/undergraduate-research-forum\/c49-effects-of-adolescent-benzodiazepine-exposure-on-alcohol-intake-and-tolerance\/","title":{"rendered":"C49: Effects of Adolescent Benzodiazepine Exposure on Alcohol Intake and Tolerance"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Benzodiazepines (BZDs) are strong anxiolytic drugs that act at GABA receptors, resulting in overall inhibition of the central nervous system (CNS). Benzodiazepines can be prescribed by a doctor, or recreationally abused. One in five high schoolers report using benzodiazepines either medically or recreationally. However, the longitudinal effects of benzodiazepine use during adolescence have not been well-investigated. The purpose of this experiment was to determine the effects of benzodiazepine exposure during adolescence on immediate stress levels and later adult alcohol self-administration in rats. A total of 48 rats (N=12\/sex\/group) were used in the experiment. During adolescence (Postnatal days [PND] 30-50), they received injections every other day of lorazepam or vehicle (saline). Open Field (OFT) and Elevated Zero Maze (EZM) protocols were used throughout the experiment to assess anxiety-like behavior of the subjects. From PNDs 100-141, the subjects underwent a two-bottle choice alcohol self-administration paradigm for four hours (8PM-12AM) every night during their dark cycle. On PND143, the subjects were given an intraperitoneal injection of 42% ethanol (1 mg\/kg). An hour later, they were sacrificed and perfused for tissue collection. The tissue was stained for neural activity using c-fos immunohistochemistry in the VTA and the NAc. Using a two-way ANOVA, OFT and EZM results showed that on PND100, female BZD-treated subjects exhibited higher levels of anxiety-like behavior. Ethanol self-administration results showed that adolescent exposure to BZDs increased alcohol intake and preference in only adult females. These results suggest that adolescent BZD exposure induces lasting neural changes that may cause increased stress vulnerability later in life, as well as a higher risk for alcohol dependence and abuse. c-fos immunostaining is still underway, but based on alcohol self-administration results, more neural activity in the BZD-treated female group is expected. This would indicate that the BZD-treated females find alcohol more rewarding or that they have a higher tolerance to alcohol, which would suggest the development of cross tolerance to alcohol as a result of BZD exposure.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Authors: Platow, Z.L., Thompson, S.M., Sandoval, O., Bogdanski, E.A., McMurray, M.S.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Advisor: Matthew McMurray, Psychology<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Graduate Advisors: Oscar Sandoval, Psychology Shannon Thompson, Psychology<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Benzodiazepines (BZDs) are strong anxiolytic drugs that act at GABA receptors, resulting in overall inhibition of the central nervous system (CNS). Benzodiazepines can be prescribed by a doctor, or recreationally abused. One in five high schoolers report using benzodiazepines either medically or recreationally. However, the longitudinal effects of benzodiazepine use during adolescence have not been […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":301,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_hide_featured_image":false,"_jetpack_featured_image_duplicate_dismissed":0,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[924,1,944,52],"tags":[331,980,661,979,89],"class_list":["post-5475","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-2022-talks","category-projects","category-c45-55","category-psychology","tag-addiction","tag-adolescence","tag-psychology","tag-psychopharmacology","tag-stem"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t