Work

Social isolation alters GABAA receptors plasticity and function: effect of voluntary consumption of ethanol

Year: 2008

Type: article

Abstract: In social isolated rats brain and plasma levels of progesterone metabolites, 3α,5α-TH PROG(AP) and 3α,5αTHDOC (THDOC) are reduced while the positive effects of acute stress or acute ethanol on the content of these steroids are enhanced. The ethanol-induced increase in the abundance of AP is more pronounced in the brain than in the plasma of socially isolated rats. Accordingly, social isolation enhanced the effects of ethanol on the amounts of steroidogenic acute regulatory protein (StAR) mRNA and protein in the brain. Moreover, the ability of ethanol to inhibit isoniazid-induced convulsions is greater in socially isolated rats than in grouphoused animals, an effect abolished by finasteride, an inhibitor of AP synthesis. In socially isolated rats, the amounts of the α4 and δ subunits of the GABAA receptor in the hippocampus were increased, an effect associated to an increase in GABAA receptor-mediated tonic inhibitory currents in granule cells of the dentate gyrus. Ethanol also increased the amplitude of GABAA receptor-mediated miniature inhibitory postsynaptic currents (mIPSCs) in CA1 pyramidal neurons with a greater potency in slices from socially isolated rats than in those from group-housed, an effect inhibited by finasteride.

Source: Annals of General Psychiatry

DOI: 10.1186/1744-859x-7-s1-s25

Authors: Mariangela Serra, Giovanni Biggio

Institution: University of Cagliari

Language: English

Topic: Neuroscience and Neuropharmacology Research

Subfield: Cellular and Molecular Neuroscience

Field: Neuroscience

Domain: Life Sciences

SDG: Good health and well-being

Open Access status: gold

Estimated APC paid: $3,090