Department of Cell and Molecular Physiology, Stritch School of Medicine, Loyola University Chicago, Chicago, Illinois, United States of America.
PLoS One. 2011 Apr 13;6(4):e18350. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0018350.
Adolescence is a dynamic and important period of brain development however, little is known about the long-term neurobiological consequences of alcohol consumption during puberty. Our previous studies showed that binge-pattern ethanol (EtOH) treatment during pubertal development negatively dysregulated the responsiveness of the hypothalamo-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis, as manifested by alterations in corticotrophin-releasing hormone (CRH), arginine vasopressin (AVP), and corticosterone (CORT) during this time period. Thus, the primary goal of this study was to determine whether these observed changes in important central regulators of the stress response were permanent or transient. In this study, juvenile male Wistar rats were treated with a binge-pattern EtOH treatment paradigm or saline alone for 8 days. The animals were left undisturbed until adulthood when they received a second round of treatments consisting of saline alone, a single dose of EtOH, or a second binge-pattern treatment paradigm. The results showed that pubertal binge-pattern EtOH exposure induced striking long-lasting alterations of many HPA axis parameters. Overall, our data provide strong evidence that binge-pattern EtOH exposure during pubertal maturation has long-term detrimental effects for the healthy development of the HPA axis.
青春期是大脑发育的一个动态且重要的时期，然而，人们对青春期饮酒对长期神经生物学后果知之甚少。我们之前的研究表明，青春期发育期间的 binge 模式乙醇（EtOH）处理会对下丘脑-垂体-肾上腺（HPA）轴的反应产生负面影响，表现为在此期间促肾上腺皮质激素释放激素（CRH）、精氨酸加压素（AVP）和皮质酮（CORT）的变化。因此，本研究的主要目标是确定这些应激反应的重要中枢调节因子的观察到的变化是永久性的还是暂时性的。在这项研究中，幼年雄性 Wistar 大鼠接受 binge 模式 EtOH 处理方案或单独生理盐水处理 8 天。动物在成年后未受干扰，直到接受第二轮治疗，包括单独生理盐水、单次 EtOH 剂量或第二次 binge 模式处理方案。结果表明，青春期 binge 模式 EtOH 暴露会引起许多 HPA 轴参数的显著持久改变。总的来说，我们的数据提供了强有力的证据，证明青春期成熟期间 binge 模式 EtOH 暴露对 HPA 轴的健康发育有长期的不利影响。
