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Effects of Acute Alcohol Exposure on Layer 5 Pyramidal Neurons of Juvenile Mice

Cellular and Molecular Neurobiology volume 38, pages 955–963 (2018)Cite this article

Abstract

Early-onset drinking during childhood or preadolescence is a serious social problem. Yet, most of the basic neurobiological research on the acute effects of ethanol has been carried out on adult or early postnatal animals. We studied the effect of alcohol exposure on the basic electrophysiological properties and cell viability of layer 5 pyramidal neurons from the somatosensory cortex of juvenile (P21–P23) C57BL/6N mice. After bath application of 50 mM ethanol to acute slices of the somatosensory cortex, no adverse effects were detected on cells survival, whereas the input resistance and firing rate of layer 5 neurons were significantly reduced. While the effect on the input resistance was reversible, the depressing effect on cell firing remained stable after 6 min of alcohol exposure. Ethanol application did not result in any significant change of mIPSC frequency, amplitude, and rise time. A slight increase of mIPSC decay time was observed after 6 min of ethanol exposure. The molecular mechanisms leading to these alterations and their significance for the physiology of the cerebral cortex are briefly discussed.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Veterinary Sciences, University of Turin, Largo Braccini 2, 10095, Grugliasco, Italy

    Francesco Ferrini & Laura Lossi

  2. Faculty of Natural Sciences, University of Stirling, Stirling, UK

    Benjamin Dering

  3. Faculty of Psychology, University eCampus, Novedrate, Italy

    Andrea De Giorgio

  4. Department of Psychology, Catholic University, Largo A. Gemelli 1, 20123, Milan, Italy

    Alberto Granato

Authors
  1. Francesco Ferrini
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  2. Benjamin Dering
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  3. Andrea De Giorgio
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  4. Laura Lossi
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  5. Alberto Granato
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Contributions

FF designed and performed the experiments, analyzed the data, and wrote the manuscript. BD designed and performed the experiments and analyzed the data. ADG performed the experiments and analyzed the data. LL performed the experiments and analyzed the data. AG designed and performed the experiments, analyzed the data, and wrote the manuscript. All the authors have read and approved the manuscript.

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Correspondence to Alberto Granato.

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Ferrini, F., Dering, B., De Giorgio, A. et al. Effects of Acute Alcohol Exposure on Layer 5 Pyramidal Neurons of Juvenile Mice. Cell Mol Neurobiol 38, 955–963 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10571-017-0571-4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10571-017-0571-4

Keywords

  • Ethanol
  • Cerebral cortex
  • Electrophysiology
  • Pyramidal neurons
  • Acute slice
  • mIPSC