Adolescent binge alcohol drinking is a serious health concern contributing to adult alcohol abuse often associated with anxiety disorders. We have used adolescent intermittent ethanol (AIE) administration as a model of binge drinking in rats in order to explore its long-term effect on the basolateral amygdala (BLA) responsiveness to alcohol and anxiety-like behavior. AIE increased the number of BLA c-Fos positive cells in adult Wistar rats and anxiety-like behavior assessed by the open field test (OFT). Additionally, in adult female rats receiving AIE BLA over expression of miR-182 was found. Therefore, our results indicate that alcohol consumption during adolescence can lead to enduring changes in anxiety-like behavior and BLA susceptibility to alcohol that may be mediated by sex-dependent epigenetic changes. These results contribute to understanding the mechanisms involved in the development of alcohol use disorders (AUD) and anxiety-related disorders.

中文翻译：

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青少年酒精暴露改变了大鼠成年焦虑样行为和杏仁核对酒精的敏感性：c-Fos 活性增加和性别依赖性 microRNA-182 表达增加

青少年酗酒是一个严重的健康问题，导致成人酗酒，通常与焦虑症相关。我们使用青少年间歇性乙醇（AIE）给药作为大鼠暴饮暴食模型，以探讨其对基底外侧杏仁核（BLA）对酒精和焦虑样行为的反应的长期影响。AIE 增加了成年 Wistar 大鼠 BLA c-Fos 阳性细胞的数量以及通过旷场测试 (OFT) 评估的焦虑样行为。此外，在接受 AIE BLA 的成年雌性大鼠中，发现 miR-182 过度表达。因此，我们的结果表明，青春期饮酒会导致焦虑样行为和 BLA 对酒精的敏感性发生持久变化，这可能是由性别依赖性表观遗传变化介导的。这些结果有助于了解酒精使用障碍（AUD）和焦虑相关障碍的发生机制。