Centre for Neuroscience Studies, Queen's University, Kingston, ON, Canada.
Alcohol Clin Exp Res. 2012 Apr;36(4):594-603. doi: 10.1111/j.1530-0277.2011.01668.x. Epub 2011 Oct 17.
Most adults in Western society consume alcohol regularly without negative consequences. For a small subpopulation, however, drinking can quickly progress to excessive and chronic intake. Given the dangers associated with alcohol abuse, it is critical to identify traits that may place an individual at risk for developing these behaviors. To that end, we used a rat model to determine whether anxiety-related behaviors, novelty seeking, or cognitive flexibility predict excessive alcohol drinking under both limited and continuous access conditions.
Adult male rats were assessed in a series of behavioral tasks (elevated plus maze [EPM], locomotor activity, and discrimination/reversal learning in a Y-maze) followed by 6 weeks of daily, 1-hour access to alcohol in a free-choice, 2-bottle paradigm (10% alcohol vs. tap water). Next, subjects were given the opportunity to consume alcohol for 72 hours in drinking chambers that permit separate measures of each drinking bout. Half of the animals experienced a 2-week deprivation period between the limited and continuous access sessions.
Time spent on the open arms of the EPM, but not novelty seeking or discrimination/reversal learning, predicted alcohol consumption during limited, 1-h/d access sessions to alcohol. Anxiety-related behavior also predicted the escalation of intake when animals were given 72 hours of continuous access to alcohol. Bout size, but not frequency, was responsible for the increased consumption by high-anxiety subjects during this period. Finally, intake during limited access sessions predicted intake during continuous access, but only in subjects with low intake during limited access.
These findings confirm that preexisting anxiety-related behavior predicts alcohol intake under several schedules of alcohol access. Moreover, when access is unlimited, the high-anxiety-related group exhibited an increase in bout size, but not frequency, of drinking. In addition, we show that modest intake when alcohol is restricted may or may not progress to excessive intake when the drug is freely available.
在西方社会，大多数成年人经常饮酒而不会产生负面影响。然而，对于一小部分人来说，饮酒可能会迅速发展为过度和慢性摄入。鉴于与酗酒相关的危险，确定可能使个体面临发生这些行为风险的特征至关重要。为此，我们使用大鼠模型来确定焦虑相关行为、新奇寻求或认知灵活性是否可预测在有限和连续摄入条件下过度饮酒。
成年雄性大鼠在一系列行为任务（高架十字迷宫[EPM]、运动活动以及 Y 迷宫中的辨别/反转学习）中进行评估，然后在自由选择、2 瓶范式（10%酒精与自来水）中进行 6 周的每日 1 小时酒精摄入。接下来，让动物有机会在允许单独测量每次饮酒发作的饮酒室中连续 72 小时饮酒。一半的动物在有限和连续摄入阶段之间经历了 2 周的剥夺期。
EPM 开放臂上的时间，但不是新奇寻求或辨别/反转学习，预测了在 1 小时/天的有限酒精摄入期间的酒精摄入量。焦虑相关行为也预测了当动物被给予 72 小时连续酒精摄入时摄入量的增加。在这段时间内，高焦虑组的发作大小而非频率导致了消费的增加。最后，在有限摄入阶段的摄入量预测了连续摄入阶段的摄入量，但仅在有限摄入阶段摄入量低的动物中。
这些发现证实了预先存在的焦虑相关行为可预测几种酒精摄入方案下的酒精摄入量。此外，当摄入不受限制时，高焦虑相关组表现出饮酒发作大小增加，但频率不变。此外，我们表明，当药物自由可用时，当酒精受到限制时适度摄入可能会或可能不会发展为过度摄入。
