Publications by authors named "Paige Marsland"
Article Synopsis
- Adolescence is a time marked by higher rates of risk-taking behaviors, including alcohol and drug use, which are linked to future alcohol use disorders in adults.
- Despite many studies on this topic, there’s a lack of preclinical research isolating the biological effects of adolescent drinking from social and environmental influences, resulting in mixed findings.
- In a series of studies using different rodent models across multiple labs, researchers found no significant increase in adult alcohol consumption after adolescent drinking, suggesting that human risks may stem from factors not present in these animal studies.
Front Physiol
January 2024
Article Synopsis
- Early alcohol use and binge drinking during adolescence increase the risk of developing alcohol use disorder later in life, especially given the rapid physical and neural changes during this period.
- A study aimed to investigate how age affects leukocyte populations and body composition during adolescence and early adulthood, specifically looking at the impact of adolescent intermittent ethanol (AIE) exposure.
- Results showed that AIE exposure led to gender-specific changes in body fat: male rats had less fat, while female rats had more, indicating potential long-term health effects despite no overall change in leukocyte numbers or cytokine expression.
Article Synopsis
- Alcohol use during adolescence poses significant risks to brain development, with binge and high-intensity drinking leading to serious consequences for behavior and neural function according to studies done on adolescent rodents.
- In this study, researchers explored a new model of intermittent ethanol exposure using a single bottle of 10% ethanol on a 2 days on/2 days off schedule to assess hormonal and immune responses.
- Results showed that adolescents consumed more ethanol and had higher blood and brain ethanol levels compared to adults, and those with early ethanol exposure exhibited greater immune responses when challenged later in adulthood.
Article Synopsis
- Chronic alcohol consumption may influence cognitive decline and share common features with Alzheimer's disease and vascular dementia.
- A study on Fischer 344 rats found that aged female rats who consumed alcohol showed increased microglial activity, particularly in clearing beta-amyloid (Aβ) from the brain.
- No significant changes were observed in male rats, indicating a potential sex-specific mechanism in how chronic alcohol consumption affects brain health and cognitive decline.
Pharmacol Biochem Behav
September 2021
Article Synopsis
- The studies explored how withdrawal from a binge dose of ethanol (hangover) affects fear conditioning in male and female rats.
- It was found that males showed increased conditioned fear responses after ethanol withdrawal, while females did not exhibit the same sensitivity.
- Additionally, the experiments revealed that female rats clear ethanol from their systems faster than males, which may contribute to the observed differences in fear conditioning response between the sexes.
Article Synopsis
- Adolescence is marked by significant behavioral and physiological changes, leading to increased stress vulnerability, a pattern observed in rodent studies comparing adolescent and adult responses to stress.
- The study used juvenile and adult male and female rats to assess how they reacted to footshock stress, measuring hormone levels and cytokine expression in various brain regions important for stress response.
- Results showed that adolescent rats had blunted immune responses compared to adults, particularly with the IL-1 signaling system, indicating developmental differences in stress response mechanisms based on age and sex.
