Adolescent social isolation increases excitatory synaptic activity and impairs long term depression in the rat nucleus accumbens core

Our lab has established a rodent model of adolescent social isolation (aSI) which engenders robust and enduring increases in behaviors linked to alcohol addiction vulnerability, including increases in anxiety-like behaviors, ethanol intake and preference. We have recently shown that the basolateral amygdala (BLA), a brain region heavily implicated in the pathophysiology of anxiety and addiction, is hyper-excitable following aSI. The BLA sends glutamatergic projections to other addiction-related brain regions including the ventral hippocampus (vHC) and nucleus accumbens (NAc).
Source: Alcohol - Category: Addiction Authors: Source Type: research