Investigating Neuronal Activation in the Salience Network During Acute Withdrawal Following A Protracted Ethanol Exposure Paradigm in Adolescent Rats

Authors: Ella Collins, David Werner, Peter Penta, Taylor Laubacher

Field of Study: Science, Technology, Engineering, and/or Math

Faculty Mentors: David Werner

Easel: 10

Timeslot: Morning

Abstract: Binge-drinking of alcohol during adolescence is a predicting factor for developing alcohol use disorder, a psychiatric disorder characterized by uncontrolled drinking habits and changes in brain regions that regulate motivated behaviors and stress control. This study aimed to investigate the insular cortex and the cingulate cortex, and their potential to govern the anxiogenic outputs seen during withdrawal from alcohol. Adolescent LacZ+ Sprague Dawley rats were used in the study and were subjected to a chronic ethanol exposure paradigm. This consisted of thirteen 2-days on/2-days off cycles of intragastric gavage exposures to either 25% ethanol solution or water, between p28 and p53. 24 hours after the last exposure (withdrawal period), rats were socially tested then sacrificed for immunohistochemical analysis. Ongoing immunohistochemical analysis is investigating the relative activation of glutamatergic and GABAergic cell types, though it is hypothesized that more glutamatergic cells will be activated in the brain regions of interest.