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Age and Sex Interact to Mediate the Effects of Intermittent, High-Dose Ethanol Exposure on Behavioral Flexibility
Journal article   Open access   Peer reviewed

Age and Sex Interact to Mediate the Effects of Intermittent, High-Dose Ethanol Exposure on Behavioral Flexibility

Jacqueline M. Barker, Kathleen G. Bryant, Jennifer I. Osborne and L. J. Chandler
Frontiers in pharmacology, v 8, pp 450-450
07 Jul 2017
PMID: 28736526
url
https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fphar.2017.00450/pdfView
Published, Version of Record (VoR) Open
url
https://doi.org/10.3389/fphar.2017.00450View
Published, Version of Record (VoR) Open

Abstract

Life Sciences & Biomedicine Pharmacology & Pharmacy Science & Technology
Human alcoholics have been shown to have impaired cognitive control over actions and increased reliance on habitual response strategies. While it is unclear in humans whether these differences predate ethanol exposure or result from chronic drinking, data from animal studies suggest that ethanol acts to promote the development of inflexible behaviors. Here, we investigated how intermittent exposure to high doses of ethanol impacts the ability to flexibly regulate behavior in a habit model. As adolescence, may represent a period of increased drug taking and developmental vulnerability that may impact adult behavior, we compared the effects of high-dose ethanol exposure during adolescence to exposure during adulthood in male and female rats. Our findings indicated that the effects of intermittent, high-dose ethanol exposure on habitual behavior is mediated by age and sex such that ethanol exposure during adolescence promoted the use of habitual response strategies in adult females, but not males, and that the opposite pattern emerged following intermittent, high-dose ethanol exposure in adult rats.

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Web of Science research areas
Pharmacology & Pharmacy
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