Early Stress & Alcoholism: Functional Analyses in Brain

描述（由申请人提供）：酗酒是一个严重的公共卫生问题，对个人和更大的社会造成了广泛的损失。在美国，每13个成年人中就有一个是酒精依赖者或有酒精相关问题。成人酗酒的一个主要危险因素是童年时期的压力和创伤。2003年，PI开始了一项由niaaa资助的研究，题为“早期压力与酒精中毒：神经生物学分析”。本项目通过比较母养和幼养恒河猴，研究童年应激与乙醇的相互作用。它将研究：1)饮酒行为，2)内分泌状况，3)血清素转运体和受体，以及4)基因表达。有了这个申请，我们需要额外的资金来扩大我们研究这个独特的实验人群的能力。这里提出的实验将研究童年压力和酒精如何单独或相互结合，在功能上改变突触传递和受体功能的血清素调节。这将为第一笔拨款支持的解剖学研究补充数据。拟议的研究还将检查谷氨酸和GABAA受体的变化，这也是对第一笔拨款的补充。这些实验代表了一次性的科学机会，可以产生其他地方无法收集到的关于血清素的功能数据。它们将产生关于重要递质系统分布的基本描述性信息，这些信息在灵长类动物中仅被不完全描绘出来，并且将是对幼龄饲养的猴子大脑中关键神经递质系统的第一个系统研究。这一建议也将我们推向了一个跨学科的科学模型，它不仅承诺提高效率，而且还为个体动物的多层次分析提供了更丰富的数据整合机会。与公共卫生的相关性：在童年时期经历过与父母分离等创伤性事件的成年人，酗酒和酗酒的风险更高。这种风险增加的原因尚不清楚。该研究旨在通过研究经历母亲分离的动物的饮酒行为和大脑结构和功能，直接解决童年压力导致成年酒精中毒的机制。这个项目提供的信息可以对如何保护受创伤的儿童免遭以后的药物滥用产生重要影响。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Alcoholism is a serious public health problem with widespread costs to individuals and to the larger community. One in 13 adults in the United States is alcohol dependent or has alcohol-related problems. A major risk factor for adult alcoholism is stress and trauma during childhood. In 2003, the PI began an NIAAA-funded study entitled, Early Stress & Alcoholism: Neurobiological Analysis. This project studies the interaction of childhood stress and ethanol by comparing mother-reared to nursery-reared rhesus monkeys. It will study: 1) drinking behavior, 2) endocrine status, 3) the serotonin transporter and receptors, and 4) gene expression. With this application we are requesting additional funding to expand significantly our ability to study this unique experimental population. The experiments proposed here will examine how childhood stress and alcohol, both alone and in combination with each other, functionally alter serotonin modulation of synaptic transmission and receptor-function. This will add data complimentary to the anatomical studies supported by the first grant. The proposed studies will also examine alterations in glutamate and GABAA receptors, also complimenting the first grant. These experiments represent a one- time scientific opportunity to produce functional data about serotonin that cannot be gathered elsewhere. They will generate fundamental descriptive information about the distribution of important transmitter systems that have only been incompletely mapped in primates, and will be the first systematic study of key neurotransmitter systems in the brains of nursery-reared monkeys. This proposal also moves us towards a model of interdisciplinary science that promises not only increased efficiency, but also richer opportunities for data integration across many levels of analysis in individual animals. Relevance to Public Health: Adults, who in childhood, experience traumatic events like separation from their parents, are at increased risk for alcohol abuse and alcoholism. The causes for this increased risk are unknown. The proposed studies are designed to directly address the mechanisms by which childhood stress leads to adult alcoholism by studying the drinking behavior and brain structure and function of animals that experienced maternal separation. This information from this project can have important influences on how traumatized children may be protected from later substance abuse.