Early social isolation differentially affects the glucocorticoid receptor system and alcohol-seeking behavior in male and female Marchigian Sardinian alcohol-preferring rats.

ABSTRACT: Adverse early life experiences during postnatal development can evoke long-lasting neurobiological changes in stress systems, thereby affecting subsequent behaviors including propensity to develop alcohol use disorder. Here, we exposed genetically selected male and female Marchigian Sardinian alcohol-preferring (msP) and Wistar rats to mild, repeated social deprivation from postnatal day 14 (PND14) to PND21 and investigated the effect of the early social isolation (ESI) on the glucocorticoid receptor (GR) system and on the propensity to drink and seek alcohol in adulthood. We found that ESI resulted in higher levels of GR gene and protein expression in the prefrontal cortex (PFC) in male but not female msP rats. In female Wistars, ESI resulted in significant downregulation of Nr3c1

SUBMITTER: Benvenuti F 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10727952 | biostudies-literature | 2024 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature