The effect of adolescent intermittent ethanol exposure on ethanol-induced conditioned place preference and anxiety-like behavior in adolescent mice / 中国神经精神疾病杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective To examine the effect of adolescent intermittent ethanol exposure (AIE) on ethanol-induced conditioned place preference (CPP) and anxiety-like behavior in adolescent mice. Methods In experiment 1, adolescent male C57BL/6 mice at 4 weeks of age were randomly divided into AIE group and NS group (n=10 for each group). The binge drinking model was established by AIE (3 g/kg, 25%). The alcohol reward was evaluated using the ethanol-induced CPP paradigm (2 g/kg, 20%). In experiment 2, the anxiety-like behavior of adolescent male C57BL/6 mice were assessed using the elevated plus maze (EPM) test, and the animals were then allocated into high-anxiety mouse (HAM) and low-anxiety mouse (LAM) groups based on the percentage of open arm time (OT%). HAM and LAM were randomly divided into AIE group and NS group (n=8～10 for each group) with random number method, respectively. Then, anxiety-like behavior in four groups was measured again using the EPM test. Results In experiment 1. Ethanol preference (116.1± 12.9)s vs. (70.8±14.8)s, P=0.035) was significantly higher in AIE group relative to NS group. However, In experiment 2. The alteration in anxiety-like behaviors was not significant in either HAM-AIE or LAM-AIE groups (all P＞0.05). Conclusions AIE reinforces ethanol-induced CPP but does not affect the anxiety-like behavior in adolescent mice, suggesting that AIE may not play a role in anxiety-like behavior.