Sex Differences in Cognitive Function, Anxiety-Like Behavior, and IL-1 Gene Expression in Adult Mice Following Adolescent Ethanol Exposure

Authors: Iman Shahbaz, Andrea Liss, Florence Varodayan

Field of Study: Integrative Neuroscience

Program Affiliation: Summer Scholars and Artists Program (SSAP)

Faculty Mentors: Florence Varodayan

Easel: 24

Timeslot: Afternoon

Abstract: Adolescence (ages 10–25 in humans; postnatal days (P) 28–55 in rats) is a critical neurodevelopmental period during which exposure to ethanol can produce long-lasting changes in the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC). Early alcohol exposure is associated with deficits in executive functioning and reward processing, with evidence implicating interleukin-1β (IL-1β) neuroimmune signaling in alcohol use disorder (AUD)-associated symptoms. Prior work from this lab demonstrated that chronic alcohol use activates pro-inflammatory IL-1β pathway in adult male mice. Here, this study investigated whether adolescent intermittent ethanol (AIE) exposure produces long-term sex specific behavioral and cognitive effects. From P30-P60, mice underwent a two-bottle choice drinking paradigm; controls received water only. In adulthood (P90), anxiety-like behavior and cognition were assessed using the digging task, novelty-suppressed feeding, and Barnes maze. Behavioral analyses showed no significant group differences. However, ongoing PCR analysis of mPFC tissue assessing IL-1 family gene expression is underway to determine neuroimmune changes.