Effect of Voluntary Binge Drinking on the Prefrontal Cortex in Adolescent Rats

描述(申请人提供)：前额叶皮质在情绪和目标导向行为的表达和控制中起着执行作用；然而，它是大脑最后成熟的区域之一。令人非常关切的是，男性和女性青少年中的“危险、冲动行为”，如酗酒，可能会影响前额叶皮质的成熟过程(例如，髓鞘形成)，从而对精神健康产生长期影响。这项建议使用一个创新的和临床相关的模型来诱导(和控制)雄性和雌性大鼠频繁的自愿酗酒，以研究青少年酗酒的因果关系、潜在机制和前额叶皮质有髓轴突的可逆性。 公共卫生相关性：拟议的研究与公共卫生相关。酒精是青春期最常用的滥用物质，男性和女性青少年主要从事危险的、间歇性的酗酒(“狂饮”)。拟议的研究使用多学科的方法来填补关于酗酒对大脑皮质的长期影响(以及可逆性)的一个重大知识空白，并对雄性和雌性大鼠发育中的前额叶皮质产生影响。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The prefrontal cortex plays an executive role in the expression and control of emotion and goal-directed behaviors; yet, it is one of the last brain regions to mature. Of great concern is how "risky, impulsive behaviors" such as binge alcohol drinking in male and female teenagers may impacts maturational processes (e.g., myelinization) within the prefrontal cortex to have long-lasting consequences on psychiatric health. This proposal uses an innovative and clinically relevant model to elicit (and control) frequent bouts of voluntary binge drinking in male and female rats to investigate the causal effects, underlying mechanisms, and reversibility of adolescent binge drinking myelinated axons in prefrontal cortex. PUBLIC HEALTH RELEVANCE: The proposed research is relevant to public health. Alcohol is the most commonly used substance of abuse during adolescence and male and female teenagers engage primarily in risky, heavy episodic drinking ("binge drinking"). The proposed studies use a multidisciplinary approach to fill a significant gap in knowledge regarding the long-term effects (and reversibility) of binge drinking on the on the developing prefrontal cortex in male and female rats.