Live Poster Session: Zoom Link
Thursday, July 30th 1:15-2:30pm EDT
Abstract: Only ten percent of people who drink alcohol will develop an Alcohol Use Disorder (AUD). Though a history of risky drinking is believed to predict one’s vulnerability to developing an AUD, both sex and age of first drink are important variables shown to moderate the relationship between the pattern of drinking and the development of an AUD. Here we use a mouse-model of binge drinking to understand the biological mechanisms that underlie the shift from risky drinking to developing an AUD. We propose that alcohol causes maladaptive plasticity in GABAergic signaling in systems that control stress and affect, which can then lead to behavioral changes that increase one’s vulnerability to developing an AUD. Changes in these systems may vary between sex and across age and may be the cause of the unique progression from risky drinking to AUD. Using a mouse model of risky drinking, we show that sex differences are more prominent in adults than in adolescents and that adolescents are more sensitive to alcohol withdrawal. We found that adult females drink more on average and also demonstrate an increase in anxiety-like behaviors compared to adult males. We also found that adolescents overall show an increase in anxiety and depressive-like behaviors compared to adults. Our results suggest there are shifts in response to withdrawal as the brain matures, especially in females. In future studies, we will perform IHC using the tissue from the mice we harvested to compare changes in levels of proteins important to GABA signaling across groups. Our study provides insights that are useful for understanding the several factors that help determine the progression from risky drinking to AUD. Overall, this study deepens our understanding of how an AUD is developed in patients varying in sex and age, and has the potential to help refine how we approach treating patients with AUD.
Poster_AFH_Jul_27_20-Ana-Finnerty-HaggertyLive Poster Session: Zoom Link
Thursday, July 30th 1:15-2:30pm EDT