Department of Psychology, Behavioral Neuroscience Program, State University of New York, Binghamton, NY, 13902, USA.
Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology, Indiana University School of Medicine, Indianapolis, IN, 46202, USA.
Drug Alcohol Depend. 2020 Nov 1;216:108309. doi: 10.1016/j.drugalcdep.2020.108309. Epub 2020 Sep 21.
Adolescence and early-adulthood are vulnerable developmental periods during which binge drinking can have long-lasting effects on brain function. However, little is known about the effects of binge drinking on the pyramidal cells of the prelimbic cortex (PrL) during early and protracted withdrawal periods.
In the present study, we performed whole-cell patch clamp recordings and dendritic spine staining to examine the intrinsic excitability, spontaneous excitatory post-synaptic currents (sEPSCs), and spine morphology of pyramidal cells in the PrL from rats exposed to chronic intermittent ethanol (CIE) during adolescence or early-adulthood.
Compared to chronic intermittent water (CIW)-treated controls, the excitability of PrL-L5 pyramidal neurons was significantly increased 21 days after adolescent CIE but decreased 21 days after early-adult CIE. No changes of excitability in PrL Layer (L) 5 were detected 2 days after either adolescent or early-adulthood CIE. Interestingly, decreases in sEPSC amplitude and increases in thin spines ratio were detected 2 days after adolescent CIE. Furthermore, decreased frequency and amplitude of sEPSCs, accompanied by a decrease in the density of total spines and non-thin spines were observed 21 days after adolescent CIE. In contrast, increased frequency and amplitude of sEPSCs, accompanied by increased densities of total spines and non-thin spines were found 21 days after early adult CIE.
CIE produced prolonged neuronal and synaptic alterations in PrL-L5, and the developmental stage, i.e., adolescence vs. early-adulthood when subjects receive CIE, is a key factor in determining the direction of these changes.
青少年和成年早期是易受影响的发展阶段，在此期间，狂饮可能对大脑功能产生持久影响。然而，人们对狂饮在早期和长期戒断期间对前额皮质（PrL）的锥体神经元的影响知之甚少。
在本研究中，我们通过全细胞膜片钳记录和树突棘染色，来研究暴露于青少年或成年早期慢性间歇性乙醇（CIE）的大鼠 PrL 中的锥体细胞的固有兴奋性、自发性兴奋性突触后电流（sEPSC）和棘突形态。
与慢性间歇性水（CIW）处理的对照组相比，青少年 CIE 后 21 天，PrL-L5 锥体神经元的兴奋性明显增加，但成年早期 CIE 后 21 天兴奋性降低。在青少年或成年早期 CIE 后 2 天，均未检测到 PrL 层（L）5 的兴奋性变化。有趣的是，在青少年 CIE 后 2 天，sEPSC 幅度降低，薄棘突比例增加。此外，在青少年 CIE 后 21 天，观察到 sEPSC 的频率和幅度降低，同时总棘突和非薄棘突的密度降低。相比之下，在成年早期 CIE 后 21 天，发现 sEPSC 的频率和幅度增加，同时总棘突和非薄棘突的密度增加。
CIE 在 PrL-L5 中产生了长期的神经元和突触改变，而接受 CIE 的个体的发育阶段，即青少年期与成年早期，是决定这些变化方向的关键因素。
