Ferris C F, Shtiegman K, King J A
Department of Psychiatry, University of Massachusetts Medical Center, Worcester 01655, USA.
Physiol Behav. 1998 Mar;63(5):739-44. doi: 10.1016/s0031-9384(97)00533-7.
The immediate and long-term biologic and behavioral consequences of voluntary ethanol (EtOH) exposure during male adolescence are unknown. In the present study, male golden hamsters voluntarily drank from a 15% EtOH solution in addition to consuming dry laboratory chow and water ad lib from Postnatal Day 25 to Postnatal Day 43. Over this adolescent period, they drank an average of 13 g/kg/day of EtOH, resulting in a mean blood EtOH concentration of ca. 53 mg %. On Postnatal Day 35, a period of enhanced sensitization and activation of the gonadal axis, testosterone levels were twice as high in EtOH animals than in sucrose-yoked controls. However, this difference disappeared by Postnatal Day 53, as EtOH and control animals showed comparable adult levels of plasma testosterone. When tested for aggression several days after the cessation of EtOH exposure, hamsters showed enhanced attack behavior toward smaller intruders placed into their home cage. These results suggest that voluntary EtOH exposure during male adolescence has specific neuroendocrine effects with lasting behavioral consequences.
雄性青春期自愿接触乙醇（EtOH）的即刻和长期生物学及行为后果尚不清楚。在本研究中，雄性金黄地鼠从出生后第25天到出生后第43天，除了随意食用干实验室饲料和饮水外，还自愿饮用15%的EtOH溶液。在这个青春期阶段，它们平均每天饮用13 g/kg的EtOH，导致平均血液EtOH浓度约为53 mg%。在出生后第35天，即性腺轴致敏和激活增强的时期，EtOH组动物的睾酮水平是蔗糖配对对照组动物的两倍。然而，到出生后第53天，这种差异消失了，因为EtOH组和对照组动物的血浆睾酮水平在成年期相当。在停止EtOH接触几天后进行攻击行为测试时，仓鼠对放入其家笼中的较小入侵者表现出增强的攻击行为。这些结果表明，雄性青春期自愿接触EtOH具有特定的神经内分泌效应，并产生持久的行为后果。
