Moaddab Mahsa, Mangone Elizabeth, Ray Madelyn H, McDannald Michael A
Department of Psychology, Boston College, Chestnut Hill, MA 02467, USA.
Brain Sci. 2017 Nov 14;7(11):151. doi: 10.3390/brainsci7110151.
Adolescent alcohol drinking increases the risk for alcohol-use disorder in adulthood. Yet, the changes in adult neural function resulting from adolescent alcohol drinking remain poorly understood. We hypothesized that adolescent alcohol drinking alters basolateral amygdala (BLA) function, making alcohol drinking BLA-dependent in adulthood. Male, Long Evans rats were given voluntary, intermittent access to alcohol (20% ethanol) or a bitter, isocaloric control solution, across adolescence. Half of the rats in each group received neurotoxic BLA lesions. In adulthood, all rats were given voluntary, intermittent access to alcohol. BLA lesions reduced adult alcohol drinking in rats receiving adolescent access to alcohol, but not in rats receiving adolescent access to the control solution. The effect of the BLA lesion was most apparent in high alcohol drinking adolescent rats. The BLA is essential for fear learning and is hyper-active in anxiety disorders. The results are consistent with adolescent heavy alcohol drinking inducing BLA hyper-activity, providing a neural mechanism for comorbid alcohol use disorder and anxiety disorders.
青少年饮酒会增加成年后患酒精使用障碍的风险。然而，青少年饮酒对成年后神经功能的影响仍知之甚少。我们假设青少年饮酒会改变基底外侧杏仁核（BLA）的功能，使成年后饮酒依赖于BLA。在整个青春期，对雄性朗·埃文斯大鼠给予自愿间歇性饮用酒精（20%乙醇）或苦味等热量对照溶液的机会。每组一半的大鼠接受神经毒性BLA损伤。成年后，所有大鼠都被给予自愿间歇性饮用酒精的机会。BLA损伤减少了青春期接触酒精的成年大鼠的饮酒量，但对青春期接触对照溶液的成年大鼠没有影响。BLA损伤的影响在高饮酒量的青春期大鼠中最为明显。BLA对恐惧学习至关重要，在焦虑症中会过度活跃。这些结果与青少年大量饮酒导致BLA过度活跃一致，为酒精使用障碍和焦虑症的共病提供了一种神经机制。
