Binge drinking in male adolescent rats and its relationship to persistent behavioral impairments and elevated proinflammatory/proapoptotic proteins in the cerebellum.

Rationale: To demonstrate that repeated episodes of binge drinking during the adolescent period can lead to long-term deficits in motor function and memory in adulthood, and increase proteins in the brain involved with inflammation and apoptotic cell death.

Methods: Groups of early adolescent (PND 26) and periadolescent (PND 34) Sprague-Dawley rats were exposed to either ethanol or plain air through a vapor chamber apparatus for five consecutive days (2 h per day), achieving a blood ethanol concentration equivalent to 6-8 drinks in the treatment group. Subjects then underwent a series of behavioral tests designed to assess memory, anxiety regulation, and motor function.

Mice deficient in carbonic anhydrase type 8 exhibit motor dysfunctions and abnormal calcium dynamics in the somatic region of cerebellar granule cells.

The waddles (wdl) mouse is characterized by a namesake "side-to-side" waddling gait due to a homozygous mutation of the Car8 gene. This mutation results in non-functional copies of the protein carbonic anhydrase type 8. Rota-rod testing was conducted to characterize the wdl mutations' effect on motor output.

The role of calcium in synaptic plasticity and motor learning in the cerebellar cortex.

The cerebellum is important for motor coordination, as well as motor learning and memories. Learning is believed to occur in the cerebellar cortex, in the form of synaptic plasticity. Central to motor learning theory are Purkinje cells (PCs), which are the sole output neurons of the cerebellar cortex.