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Short- and long-term effects of stress during adolescence on emotionality and HPA function of animals exposed to alcohol prenatally.

ABSTRACT: Prenatal alcohol exposure (PAE) is associated with extremely high rates of psychopathologies, which may be mediated by the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) dysregulation observed in exposed individuals. Of relevance, PAE carries an increased risk of exposure to stressful environments throughout life. Importantly, stressful experiences during adolescence increase vulnerability to psychopathologies. However, little is known about how adolescent stressful experiences in the context of PAE-induced HPA dysregulation may further alter the developmental trajectory and potentially contribute to the disproportionally high rate of psychopathologies observed in this population. Here we investigate the short- and long-term effects of adolescent chronic mild stress (CMS) on the emergence of anxiety-/depressive-like behaviors (open-field and forced swim test - FST) and on HPA activity (corticosterone and type 1 CRH receptor - CRHR1) in PAE male and female rats. Under non-CMS conditions, open field results indicate that PAE induced inappropriate behavior (increased time in center) in males and females, with increased activity in female adolescents, but anxiety-like behavior in adult PAE females. Conversely, FST results indicate that PAE induced depressive-like behavior in adolescent males. Exposure to CMS resulted in increased activity in adolescent males and anxiety-like behaviors in adult females. Moreover, PAE and/or CMS altered corticosterone and CRHR1 expression in the mPFC and amygdala. Together, these results suggest that PAE and adolescent CMS induce dynamic neurobehavioral alterations that manifest differently depending on the age and sex of the animal. These results highlight the importance of using both sexes as well as an ontogenetic approach when investigating the effects of environmental adversity.

SUBMITTER: Raineki C

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5159267 | biostudies-literature | 2016 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Short- and long-term effects of stress during adolescence on emotionality and HPA function of animals exposed to alcohol prenatally.

Raineki Charlis C Chew Leanne L Mok Perry P Ellis Linda L Weinberg Joanne J

Psychoneuroendocrinology 20160816

Prenatal alcohol exposure (PAE) is associated with extremely high rates of psychopathologies, which may be mediated by the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) dysregulation observed in exposed individuals. Of relevance, PAE carries an increased risk of exposure to stressful environments throughout life. Importantly, stressful experiences during adolescence increase vulnerability to psychopathologies. However, little is known about how adolescent stressful experiences in the context of PAE-induc ...[more]

PMID: 27567117

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Project description:Neurocognitive effects of prenatal alcohol exposure in adulthood are not well documented. Questions persist regarding the extent to which there are specific, measurable effects beyond those associated with global ability deficits, whether individuals without the full fetal alcohol syndrome (FAS) demonstrate alcohol-related cognitive impairments, and whether observed memory effects are specific to a particular modality, i.e., verbal vs. visual/spatial domains.In this study, verbal and nonverbal selective reminding paradigms were used to assess memory function in 234 young adults (M age: 22.78, SD: 1.79). Alcohol exposure was quantified prenatally. Alcohol groups included: Individuals with physical effects of alcohol exposure (Dysmorphic group, n = 47); Exposed individuals without such effects (n = 74). Contrast groups included: Controls (n = 59) matched for ethnicity, socioeconomic status, and hospital of birth; Special Education contrast group (n = 54) included to control for disability status. Memory outcomes entailed total recall, delayed recall, and measures of encoding and retrieval, and learning over trials as indexed by slope.Results indicated that Dysmorphic individuals were significantly less efficient in memory performance than Controls on all of the outcomes measured, but they did not differ from those in the Special Education contrast group. The nondysmorphic, alcohol-exposed group was intermediate in their performance, suggesting a continuum of effects of prenatal exposure. Evaluation of the encoding and retrieval aspects of memory performance indicated that learning rather than forgetting accounted for the deficits associated with prenatal alcohol exposure. Finally, no interaction was found between modality of presentation (verbal and nonverbal) and effects of alcohol exposure on memory performance.These findings indicate that prenatal alcohol exposure is associated with persistent and specific effects on memory performance, and these problems result from less efficient encoding of information across both verbal and nonverbal modalities. Education and training efforts with this clinical group should take these characteristics into account.

Project description:BACKGROUND:Widespread brain atrophy in alcohol-dependent individuals (ALC) has been consistently documented in pathological and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) studies. Longitudinal MRI studies have shown that the regional brain volume losses in ALC are partially reversible during abstinence from alcohol. The goal of this study was to determine volume reductions in cortical and subcortical regions functionally important to substance use behavior and their changes during short-term (1 week to 1 month) and long-term abstinence (1 to 7 months) from alcohol. The regions of interest (ROIs) were as follows: anterior cingulate cortex (ACC), dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC), orbitofrontal cortex (OFC), insula, amygdala, and hippocampus. METHODS:A total of 85 unique ALC were assessed at 1 week (n = 65), 1 month (n = 82), and 7 months (n = 36) of abstinence. In addition, 17 light/nondrinking healthy controls (CON) were assessed at baseline and follow-up over a 10-month interval. Regional brain volumes were derived from FreeSurfer. Cross-sectional statistical analyses using 1-way analysis of variance or Fisher's exact test were applied to identify group differences. Longitudinal statistical analyses using linear mixed models were applied to identify regional volume increases and nonlinear volume recovery trajectories. RESULTS:We demonstrated significant regional volume reductions in ACC, DLPFC, and hippocampus. Older age was associated with smaller DLPFC and OFC, and higher average monthly drinking over 1 year prior to study was associated with smaller OFC. We also demonstrated significant volume increases of all ROIs except amygdala in ALC and significant nonlinear volume recovery trajectories of DLPFC, OFC, and insula. CONCLUSIONS:Results showed significant volume reductions in key regions of the executive control, salience, and emotion networks in ALC at entry into treatment and significant volume increases during short-term and long-term abstinence that were nonlinear over the entire abstinence period for the DLPFC, OFC, and insula. This gray matter plasticity during alcohol abstinence may have important neurobiological and neurocognitive implications in ALC, and it may contribute to an individual's ability to maintain abstinence from alcohol at different phases.

Dataset Information

Short- and long-term effects of stress during adolescence on emotionality and HPA function of animals exposed to alcohol prenatally.

Publications

Short- and long-term effects of stress during adolescence on emotionality and HPA function of animals exposed to alcohol prenatally.

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