Sex-Related Differences in Voluntary Alcohol Intake and mRNA Coding for Synucleins in the Brain of Adult Rats Prenatally Exposed to Alcohol

Abstract

Maternal alcohol consumption is one of the strong predictive factors of alcohol use and consequent abuse; however, investigations of sex differences in response to prenatal alcohol exposure (PAE) are limited. Here we compared the effects of PAE throughout gestation on alcohol preference, state anxiety and mRNA expression of presynaptic proteins α-, β- and γ-synucleins in the brain of adult (PND60) male and female Wistar rats. Total RNA was isolated from the hippocampus, midbrain and hypothalamus and mRNA levels were assessed with quantitative RT-PCR. Compared with naïve males, naïve female rats consumed more alcohol in “free choice” paradigm (10% ethanol vs. water). At the same time, PAE produced significant increase in alcohol consumption and preference in males but not in females compared to male and female naïve groups, correspondingly. We found significantly lower α-synuclein mRNA levels in the hippocampus and midbrain of females compared to males and significant decrease in α-synuclein mRNA in these brain areas in PAE males, but not in females compared to the same sex controls. These findings indicate that the impact of PAE on transcriptional regulation of synucleins may be sex-dependent, and in males’ disruption in α-synuclein mRNA expression may contribute to increased vulnerability to alcohol-associated behavior.

Interleukin-1β and TNF-α are elevated in the amygdala of adult rats prenatally exposed to ethanol

“…Females mating with one male were randomly divided into two groups. We used the model of forced (one-bottle) exposure to ethanol that we described earlier [22]: females in the experimental group drank a 10% ethanol solution as the only source of liquid throughout pregnancy. Control females consumed only water.…”

Editorial of the Special Issue: Recent Advances in Understanding of the Role of Synuclein Family Members in Health and Disease

“…The obtained data clearly demonstrated that it was not the absence of any particular synuclein, but rather that a disbalance of synucleins caused widespread changes in the EEG spectral profiles. Research by Kokhan et al focused on studying the engagement of α-, β-, and γ-synucleins in mechanisms of craving for alcohol and developing alcohol dependence [ 14 ]. They described changes in the levels of expression in genes encoding for synucleins in the hippocampus and midbrain of alcohol-consuming male and female rats.…”