Persistent escalation of alcohol consumption by mice exposed to brief episodes of social defeat stress: suppression by CRF-R1 antagonism.

ABSTRACT:

Rationale

Episodic bouts of social stress can precede the initiation, escalation, or relapse to disordered alcohol intake. Social stress may engender neuroadaptations in the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis and in extrahypothalamic stress circuitry to promote the escalation of alcohol intake.

Objectives

We aimed to (1) confirm a pattern of escalated drinking in socially defeated mice and to (2) test drugs that target distinct aspects of the HPA axis and extrahypothalamic neural substrates for their effectiveness in reducing murine, stress-escalated drinking.

Methods

Male C57BL/6J (B6) mice were socially defeated by resident Swiss-derived males for ten consecutive days receiving 30 bites/day. Ten days after the final defeat, cohorts of B6 mice received continu

SUBMITTER: Newman EL 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6168197 | biostudies-literature | 2018 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature