Amodeo Leslie R, Wills Derek N, Ehlers Cindy L
Department of Molecular and Cellular Neuroscience, The Scripps Research Institute, La Jolla 92037, CA, USA.
Department of Molecular and Cellular Neuroscience, The Scripps Research Institute, La Jolla 92037, CA, USA.
Behav Brain Res. 2017 Jul 14;330:25-29. doi: 10.1016/j.bbr.2017.05.007. Epub 2017 May 8.
Event-related oscillations (EROs) are rhythmic changes that are evoked by a sensory and/or cognitive stimulus that can influence the dynamics of the EEG. EROs are defined by the decomposition of the EEG signal into magnitude (energy) and phase information and can be elicited in both humans and animals. EROs have been linked to several relevant genes associated with ethanol dependence phenotypes in humans and are altered in selectively bred alcohol-preferring rats. However, pharmacological studies are only beginning to emerge investigating the impact low intoxicating doses of ethanol can have on event-related neural oscillations. The main goal of this study was to investigate the effects of low levels of voluntary consumption of ethanol, in rats, on phase locking of EROs in order to give further insight into the acute intoxicating effects of ethanol on the brain. To this end, we allow rats to self-administer unsweetened 20% ethanol over 15 intermittent sessions. This method results in a stable low-dose consumption of ethanol. Using an auditory event-related potential "oddball" paradigm, we investigated the effects of alcohol on the phase variability of EROs from electrodes implanted into the frontal cortex, dorsal hippocampus, and amygdala. We found that intermittent ethanol self-administration was sufficient to produce a significant reduction in overall intraregional synchrony across all targeted regions. These data suggest that phase locking of EROs within brain regions known to be impacted by alcohol may represent a sensitive biomarker of low levels of alcohol intoxication.
事件相关振荡（EROs）是由感觉和/或认知刺激诱发的节律性变化，可影响脑电图（EEG）的动态变化。EROs通过将EEG信号分解为幅度（能量）和相位信息来定义，在人类和动物中均可诱发。EROs与人类中几种与乙醇依赖表型相关的相关基因有关，并且在选择性培育的嗜酒大鼠中发生改变。然而，关于低剂量乙醇对事件相关神经振荡影响的药理学研究才刚刚开始出现。本研究的主要目的是研究大鼠低水平自愿摄入乙醇对EROs锁相的影响，以便进一步了解乙醇对大脑的急性中毒作用。为此，我们让大鼠在15个间歇期内自行摄入未加糖的20%乙醇。这种方法导致乙醇的稳定低剂量摄入。使用听觉事件相关电位“oddball”范式，我们研究了酒精对植入额叶皮质、背侧海马体和杏仁核电极的EROs相位变异性的影响。我们发现，间歇性乙醇自我给药足以使所有目标区域的整体区域内同步性显著降低。这些数据表明，已知受酒精影响的脑区内EROs的锁相可能代表低水平酒精中毒的敏感生物标志物。
