Adolescence represents a particularly vulnerable period during which exposure to stressors can precipitate the onset of psychiatric disorders and addiction. The basolateral amygdala (BLA) plays an integral role in the pathophysiology of anxiety and addiction. Acute and chronic stress promote increases in BLA pyramidal cell firing, and decreasing BLA excitability alleviates anxiety measures in humans and rodents. Notably, the impact of early-life stress on the mechanisms that govern BLA excitability is unknown. To address this gap in our knowledge, we used a rodent model of chronic early-life stress that engenders robust and enduring increases in anxiety-like behaviors and ethanol intake and examined the impact of this model on the intrinsic excitability of BLA pyramidal cells. Adolescent social isolation was associated with a significant increase in the intrinsic excitability of BLA pyramidal cells and a blunting of the medium component of the afterhyperpolarization potential, a voltage signature of calcium-activated potassium (K ca ) channel activity. Western blot analysis revealed reduced expression of small-conductance K ca (SK) channel protein in the BLA of socially isolated (SI) rats. Bath application of a positive SK channel modulator (1-EBIO) normalized firing in ex vivo recordings from SI rats, and in vivo intra-BLA 1-EBIO infusion reduced anxiety-like behaviors. These findings reveal that chronic adolescent stress impairs SK channel function, which contributes to an increase in BLA pyramidal cell excitability and highlights BLA SK channels as promising targets for the treatment of anxiety disorders and comorbid addiction.

Although alcoholism is a worldwide problem resulting in millions of deaths, only a small percentage of alcohol users become addicted. Notably, the specific neural substrates responsible for individual differences in vulnerability to alcohol addiction are not known. In these studies, we used rodent models to study behavioral and synaptic correlates related to individual differences in the development of ethanol locomotor sensitization, a form of drug-dependent behavioral plasticity associated with addiction vulnerability. Male Swiss mice were treated daily with saline or 1.8 g/kg ethanol for 21 days. Locomotor activity tests were performed once a week for 15 min immediately after saline or ethanol injections. After at least eleven days of withdrawal, cohorts of saline and ethanol-treated mice were used to characterize the relationships between locomotor sensitization, ethanol drinking, and glutamatergic synaptic transmission in the nucleus accumbens. Ethanol-treated mice that expressed locomotor behavioral sensitization to ethanol drank significantly more ethanol than saline-treated subjects and ethanol-treated animals resilient to this form of behavioral plasticity. Moreover, ethanolsensitized mice also had reduced accumbal NMDA receptor function and expression, as well as deficits in NMDA receptor-dependent long term depression in the nucleus accumbens core after a protracted withdrawal. These findings suggest that disruption of accumbal core NMDA receptor-dependent plasticity may represent a synaptic correlate associated with ethanol-induced locomotor sensitization and increased propensity to consume ethanol.

Individuals diagnosed with anxiety-related illnesses are at increased risk of developing alcoholism, exhibit a telescoped progression of this disease and fare worse in recovery, relative to alcoholics that do not suffer from a comorbid anxiety disorder. Similarly, preclinical evidence supports the notion that stress and anxiety represent major risk factors for the development of alcohol use disorder (AUD). Despite the importance of understanding the link between anxiety and alcoholism, much remains unknown about the neurobiological substrates underlying this relationship. One stumbling block has been the lack of animal models that reliably reproduce the spectrum of behaviors associated with increased vulnerability to these diseases. Here, we review the literature that has examined the behavioral and neurobiological outcomes of a simple rodent adolescent social isolation procedure and discuss its validity as a model of vulnerability to comorbid anxiety disorders and alcoholism. Recent studies have provided strong evidence that adolescent social isolation of male rats leads to the expression of a variety of behaviors linked with increased vulnerability to anxiety and/or AUD, including deficits in sensory gating and fear extinction, and increases in anxiety measures and ethanol drinking. Neurobiological studies are beginning to identify mesolimbic adaptations that may contribute to the behavioral phenotype engendered by this model. Some of these changes include increased excitability of ventral tegmental area dopamine neurons and pyramidal cells in the basolateral amygdala and significant alterations in baseline and stimulated catecholamine signaling. A growing body of evidence suggests that adolescent social isolation may represent a reliable rodent model of heightened vulnerability to anxiety disorders and alcoholism in male rats. These studies provide initial support for the face, construct, and predictive validity of this model and highlight its utility in identifying neurobiological adaptations associated with increased risk of developing these disorders.

Dysregulation of the hypothalamic–pituitary–adrenal (HPA) axis is often observed in alcoholics and humans subjected to early life stress, and animal models of ethanol (EtOH) dependence. We examined HPA axis function in a rodent model of early life stress that engenders increases in behavioral and neurobiological risk factors of alcoholism. Long-Evans male rats were group housed (GH) or socially isolated (SI) for 6 weeks during adolescence. We examined the corticosterone (CORT) response to stress with and without dexamethasone (DEX) and anxiety-like behaviors. Following the DEX suppression test and behavioral assays, half of the cohort engaged in 6 weeks of EtOH drinking in a homecage, two-bottle choice intermittent access model. A subset of the cohort was not exposed to EtOH, but was used for electrophysiological measurement of glutamatergic synaptic plasticity in the basolateral amygdala (BLA). Correlational analyses examined relationships between measures of CORT, anxiety-like behaviors, and EtOH intake/preference. With DEX pre-treatment, SI rats failed to suppress CORT in response to an acute stress; GH rats showed a significant suppression. In SI rats, there was a significant negative correlation between baseline CORT and elevated plus maze open arm time, as well as significant positive correlations between baseline CORT and both EtOH intake and preference. No significant relationships between baseline CORT and behavioral measures were observed in GH rats. Glutamatergic plasticity in the BLA was similar in magnitude between GH and SI rats, and was not altered by exogenous application of CORT. These data suggest that HPA axis function is affected by SI, and this is related to antecedent anxiety-like behavior and may predispose for future EtOH self-administration. Relationships between HPA axis function, anxiety, and EtOH measures in SI rats further strengthens the utility of this paradigm in modeling vulnerability for affective disorders and alcoholism.

Prolonged exposure to organophosphate (OP) pesticides may produce cognitive deficits reflective of hippocampal injury in both humans and rodents. Recent work has indicated that microtubule trafficking is also adversely affected by exposure to the OP pesticide chlorpyrifos, suggesting a novel mode of OP-induced neurotoxicity. The present studies examined effects of prolonged exposure to chlorpyrifos-oxon (CPO) on acetylcholinesterase (AChE) activity, immunoreactivity (IR) of microtubule-associated proteins, neuronal injury, and tubulin polymerization using in vitro organotypic slice cultures of rat hippocampus and bovine tubulin. Cultures were exposed to CPO (0.1-10 μM) in cell culture medium for 1-7 days, a regimen producing progressive reductions in AChE activity of 15-60%. Cytotoxicity (somatic uptake of the non-vital marker propidium iodide, as well as, IR of α-tubulin and microtubule-associated protein-2 (a/b) were assessed 1, 3, and 7 days after the start of CPO exposure. As early as 24-hr after the start of exposure, CPO-induced deficits in MAP-2 IR were evident and progressive in each region of slice cultures at concentrations as low as 0.1 μM. CPO exposure did not alter α-tubulin IR at any time point. Concentration-dependent injury in the CA1 pyramidal cell layer and to a lesser extent, CA3 and dentate cells, was evident 3 days after the start of CPO exposure (≥ 0.1 μM) and was greatest after 7 days. Tubulin polymerization assays indicated that CPO (≥ 0.1 μM) markedly inhibited the polymerization of purified tubulin and map-rich tubulin, though effects on MAP-rich tubulin were more pronounced. These data suggest that exposure to CPO produces a progressive decrease in neuronal viability that may be associated with impaired microtubule synthesis and/or function.The broad spectrum organophosphorus (OP) insecticide chlorpyrifos (O,O-diethyl O-3,5,6trichloro-2-pyridinyl phosphorothioate; CPF) is an inhibitor of cholinesterases, including acetylcholinesterase (AChE), and has until recently been widely used in residential settings in the United States. This compound remains one of the most widely used pesticides in agricultural settings. Emerging evidence, obtained largely through the use of rodents, suggests that acute or prolonged exposure to CPF and/or its metabolic product(s) may overtly injure the central nervous system or produce marked changes in neuronal function that persist after exposure has ceased, particularly during the early postnatal period (Olivier et al. 2001;Slotkin et al. 2001;Zheng et al. 2000). However, it must be noted that not all studies find evidence of persisting CNS abnormalities following the cessation of CPF exposure (Padilla et al. 2005).* Corresponding Author: Department of Psychology, University of Kentucky, B363 BBSRB, 741 S. Limestone, University of Kentucky, Lexington, KY 40536-0509, Telephone: (859) 257-6120, Email: prender@uky.edu Publisher's Disclaimer: This is a PDF file of an unedited manuscript that has been accepted for publication. As a service to our custome...