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Adolescent binge-like alcohol alters sensitivity to acute alcohol effects on dopamine release in the nucleus accumbens of adult rats

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Abstract

Rationale

Early onset of alcohol drinking has been associated with alcohol abuse in adulthood. The neurobiology of this phenomenon is unclear, but mesolimbic dopamine pathways, which are dynamic during adolescence, may play a role.

Objectives

We investigated the impact of adolescent binge-like alcohol on phasic dopaminergic neurotransmission during adulthood.

Methods

Rats received intermittent intragastric ethanol, water, or nothing during adolescence. In adulthood, electrically evoked dopamine release and subsequent uptake were measured in the nucleus accumbens core at baseline and after acute challenge of ethanol or saline.

Results

Adolescent ethanol exposure did not alter basal measures of evoked dopamine release or uptake. Ethanol challenge dose-dependently decreased the amplitude of evoked dopamine release in rats by 30–50 % in control groups, as previously reported, but did not alter evoked release in ethanol-exposed animals. To address the mechanism by which ethanol altered dopamine signaling, the evoked signals were modeled to estimate dopamine efflux per impulse and the velocity of the dopamine transporter. Dopamine uptake was slower in all exposure groups after ethanol challenge compared to saline, while dopamine efflux per pulse of electrical stimulation was reduced by ethanol only in ethanol-naive rats.

Conclusions

The results demonstrate that exposure to binge levels of ethanol during adolescence blunts the effect of ethanol challenge to reduce the amplitude of phasic dopamine release in adulthood. Large dopamine transients may result in more extracellular dopamine after alcohol challenge in adolescent-exposed rats and may be one mechanism by which alcohol is more reinforcing in people who initiated drinking at an early age.

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Acknowledgments

Authors thank Dr. Elena Varlinskaya for comments on the results in this study. This research was funded by the National Institute of Alcoholism and Alcohol Abuse NADIA project (U01 AA019972 to LPS) and the UNC Bowles Center for Alcohol Studies. Salary support for DLR was also provided by grant U24 AA020024 of the NADIA project and Project 3 of P60 AA011605.

Conflict of interest

Authors have no conflict of interests to declare.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Bowles Center for Alcohol Studies, University of North Carolina, CB #7178, Chapel Hill, NC, 27599-7178, USA

    Tatiana A. Shnitko & Donita L. Robinson

  2. Department of Psychiatry, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, NC, USA

    Donita L. Robinson

  3. Center for Development and Behavioral Neuroscience, Department of Psychology, Binghamton University, Binghamton, NY, 13902, USA

    Linda P. Spear

Authors
  1. Tatiana A. Shnitko
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  2. Linda P. Spear
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  3. Donita L. Robinson
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Correspondence to Donita L. Robinson.

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Shnitko, T.A., Spear, L.P. & Robinson, D.L. Adolescent binge-like alcohol alters sensitivity to acute alcohol effects on dopamine release in the nucleus accumbens of adult rats. Psychopharmacology 233, 361–371 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00213-015-4106-8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00213-015-4106-8

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