Adolescent Alcohol Exposure Produces Sex-Specific Long-term Hyperalgesia via Changes in Central Amygdala Circuit Function.

Background: Exposure to alcohol during adolescence produces many effects that last well into adulthood. Acute alcohol use is analgesic, and people living with pain report drinking alcohol to reduce pain, but chronic alcohol use produces increases in pain sensitivity.

Methods: We tested the acute and lasting effects of chronic adolescent intermittent ethanol (AIE) exposure on pain-related behavioral and brain changes in male and female rats.

Quantitative Analysis of Gene Expression in RNAscope-processed Brain Tissue.

Molecular characterization of different cell types in rodent brains is a widely used and important approach in neuroscience. Fluorescent detection of transcripts using RNAscope (ACDBio) has quickly became a standard in situ hybridization (ISH) approach. Its sensitivity and specificity allow for the simultaneous detection of between three and forty-eight low abundance mRNAs in single cells (i.