Effects of acute alcohol withdrawal on nest building in mice selectively bred for alcohol withdrawal severity

Abstract

Nest building has been used to assess thermoregulatory behavior and positive motivational states in mice. There are known genetic influences on ethanol withdrawal severity as well as individual/thermoregulatory nest building. Withdrawal Seizure-Prone (WSP-1, WSP-2) and Withdrawal Seizure-Resistant (WSR-1, WSR-2) mice were selectively bred for high vs low handling-induced convulsion (HIC) severity, respectively, during withdrawal from chronic ethanol vapor inhalation. They also differ in HIC severity during withdrawal from an acute, 4 g/kg ethanol injection. In our initial study, withdrawal from an acute dose of ethanol dose-dependently impaired nest building over the initial 24 h of withdrawal in genetically segregating Withdrawal Seizure Control (WSC) mice. In two further studies, acute ethanol withdrawal suppressed nest building for up to two days in WSP-1 females. Deficits in nest building from ethanol were limited to the initial 10 h of withdrawal in WSR-1 females and to the initial 24 h of withdrawal in WSP-1 and WSR-1 males. Effects of ethanol on nest building for up to two days were found in WSP-2 and WSR-2 mice of both sexes. Nest building deficits in female mice from the first replicate could not be explained by a general decrease in locomotor behavior. These results suggest that nest building is a novel behavioral phenotype for indexing the severity of acute ethanol withdrawal, and that genes contributing to this trait differ from those affecting acute withdrawal HIC severity.

Nest building is a novel method for indexing severity of alcohol withdrawal in mice

“…Mice selectively bred for severe chronic EtOH withdrawal HICs had reduced home cage activity lasting up to 24 h after withdrawal in a study using chronic EtOH vapor methods similar to those used here [29]. However, these mice showed nest-building deficits lasting up to 32 h after acute EtOH withdrawal, a time when we did not observe decreased locomotor activity [30]. In this manuscript, we discuss several other studies that dissociate nest-building deficits from changes in locomotor activity.…”

Treadmill Exercise Buffers Behavioral Alterations Related to Ethanol Binge-Drinking in Adolescent Mice

“…Thus, we also observed that animals from ethanol condition built nests with poorer quality. Several studies have suggested that decreased nest building in small mammals reflects an anhedonic state [ 41 ], and this score has also been shown to be sensitive to EtOH withdrawal severity [ 42 ].…”

6-Methoxyflavone and Donepezil Behavioral Plus Neurochemical Correlates in Reversing Chronic Ethanol and Withdrawal Induced Cognitive Impairment

“…Nest building behavior in mice has been utilized as an assay for affective states as well as sensorimotor function and these entities are modified even during acute ethanol withdrawal. 89 The hippocampus plays an important role in nest building and hippocampal lesions lead to impairment of this behavior. 90–92 In addition, to acute ethanol withdrawal, abstinence from chronic ethanol predictably modulates nest-building behavior 93 and this is substantiated by our results.…”