Age related differences in anxiety-like behavior and amygdalar CCL2 responsiveness to stress following alcohol withdrawal

Behavioral and neuroimmune vulnerability to withdrawal from chronic alcohol varies with age. Adolescent and adult rats were exposed to CIA (chronic intermittant alcohol; three 5-day blocks of dietary alcohol separated by 2 days of withdrawal) at concentrations that created similar blood alcohol levels across age. Twenty-four hours into the final withdrawal, half of the rats were exposed to 1 h of restraint stress. Four hours post-stress, rats were used for behavior or tissue assays. Anxiety-like behavior was increased versus controls by CIA in adolescents and by CIA+stress in adults.
Source: Alcohol - Category: Addiction Authors: Source Type: research