Impact of adolescent alcohol use across the lifespan: Long-lasting tolerance to high-dose alcohol coupled with potentiated spatial memory impairments to moderate-dose alcohol.

Understanding how alcohol exposure during adolescence affects aging is a critical but understudied area. In the present study, male rats were exposed to either alcohol or saline during adolescence, then tested every 4 months following either an ethanol or saline challenge; animals were tested until postnatal day (PD) 532. It was found that long-lasting tolerance to high-dose ethanol exists through the test period, as measured by loss of righting reflex, while tolerance to lower doses of ethanol is not found.

Differences in Behavioral Responding in Adult and Aged Rats Following Chronic Ethanol Exposure.

Background: Research suggests symptoms of chronic alcoholism, and withdrawal may be more severe in elderly compared with younger adults. However, examination of the effects of long-term ethanol (EtOH) consumption and withdrawal is limited in aged rodents. We thus investigated EtOH withdrawal and potential deficits in cognitive and motor behavior in young adult and aged rats.

Alcohol use across the lifespan: An analysis of adolescent and aged rodents and humans.

Adolescence and old age are unique periods of the lifespan characterized by differential sensitivity to the effects of alcohol. Adolescents and the elderly appear to be more vulnerable to many of alcohol's physiological and behavioral effects compared to adults. The current review explores the differential effects of acute alcohol, predominantly in terms of motor function and cognition, in adolescent and aged humans and rodents.

The effects of acute alcohol on motor impairments in adolescent, adult, and aged rats.

Acute alcohol exposure has been shown to produce differential motor impairments between aged and adult rats and between adolescent and adult rats. However, the effects of acute alcohol exposure among adolescent, adult, and aged rats have yet to be systematically investigated within the same project using a dose-dependent analysis. We sought to determine the age- and dose-dependent effects of acute alcohol exposure on gross and coordinated motor performance across the rodent lifespan.

Acute alcohol produces ataxia and cognitive impairments in aged animals: a comparison between young adult and aged rats.

Background: Aging in both humans and rodents appears to be accompanied by physiological changes that increase biologic sensitivity to ethanol (EtOH) intoxication. However, animal models designed to investigate this increased alcohol sensitivity have yet to be established. For this reason, we sought to determine whether acute EtOH administration produces differential effects on motor coordination and spatial cognition in young adult and aged rats.

The effect of chronic intermittent ethanol exposure on spatial memory in adolescent rats: the dissociation of metabolic and cognitive tolerances.

Using a rapid chronic intermittent ethanol (CIE) vapor exposure paradigm, we demonstrate the dissociability of metabolic tolerance from cognitive tolerance in adolescent rats. Adolescent rats were trained to spatially navigate in the Morris Water Maze and then exposed to CIE vapor or air 16 h a day for 4 days. After a final 28 h withdrawal, all rats received a saline or ethanol challenge, followed by a test of spatial memory 30 min after administration.

Low and moderate doses of acute ethanol do not impair spatial cognition but facilitate accelerating rotarod performance in adolescent and adult rats.

Adolescents and adult rodents have differing sensitivities to the acute effects of ethanol on a variety of behavioral and electrophysiological measures. Often, these differences are revealed using high ethanol doses and consequently little is known about these age-related effects using lower ethanol doses. We sought to determine if low-dose ethanol produces differential effects on cognition and motor behavior in adolescent and adult rats.

Colocalization of calretinin and glucagon in rat pancreatic A cells.

Calretinin is a calcium-binding protein whose major functions are assumed to be buffering, transport of Ca2+, regulation of various enzyme systems and cellular protection. Moreover, calretinin does not seem to be a specific marker for any particular cell since it has been discovered in various mammalian and avian organs. In order to give clue to its function(s), we investigate its distribution in the rat pancreas using immunocytochemistry and transmission electron microscopy.

Calretinin immunoreactivity in pineal gland of different mammals including man.

Calretinin (CR) is a calcium-binding protein, found in a variety of organs and systems such as the central nervous system and the pineal gland. It was first thought to be a specific neuronal marker but this selectivity is now in question since CR has been demonstrated in avian thymus, rat ovary, rat and guinea pig inner ear, rat testis, and chicken and rat pineal gland. To contribute to the knowledge of the presence of CR-positive cells in the pineal parenchyma of rat and other mammalian including man, we performed immunocytochemistry on pineal glands of gerbils, rats, goats, cows, and humans, using a CR anti-serum.

Nitric oxide synthase in the subfornical organ of Mongolian gerbil (Meriones unguiculatus), mouse and rat.

The present paper aims to contribute to the knowledge of the histophysiologic role of the subfornical organ. Using nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide phosphate diaphorase histochemistry (NADPH-diaporase) and nitric oxide synthase immunocytochemistry, we detected a high concentration of the neuronal isoform of nitric oxide synthase in neurons of the subfornical organ of the adult Mongolian gerbil (Meriones unguiculatus), mouse and rat. Our results suggest that neurons of the subfornical organ produce a considerable amount of nitric oxide which acts, not only as a neurotransmitter, but could also diffuse into cerebral blood vessels and cerebrospinal fluid.