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Social context induces two unique patterns of c‐Fos expression in adolescent and adult rats
Author(s) -
Varlinskaya Elena I.,
Vogt Brent A.,
Spear Linda P.
Publication year - 2013
Publication title -
developmental psychobiology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.055
H-Index - 93
eISSN - 1098-2302
pISSN - 0012-1630
DOI - 10.1002/dev.21064
Subject(s) - stria terminalis , nucleus accumbens , ventral tegmental area , c fos , psychology , amygdala , endocrinology , locus coeruleus , medicine , extended amygdala , hypothalamus , basolateral amygdala , context (archaeology) , immediate early gene , neuroscience , lateral parabrachial nucleus , parabrachial nucleus , striatum , central nucleus of the amygdala , nucleus , chemistry , biology , central nervous system , dopamine , gene expression , paleontology , biochemistry , dopaminergic , gene
The study assessed possible age differences in brain activation patterns to low dose ethanol (.5 g/kg intraperitoneally) and the influence of social context on this activation. Early adolescent or young adult male Sprague–Dawley rats were placed either alone or with an unfamiliar partner of the same age and sex following saline or ethanol administration. c‐Fos protein immunoreactivity was used to index neuronal activation in 15 regions of interest. Ethanol had little effect on c‐Fos activation. In adolescents, social context activated an “autonomic” network including the basolateral and central amygdala, bed nucleus of the stria terminalis, lateral hypothalamus, and lateral septum. In contrast, when adult rats were alone, activation was evident in a “reward” network that included the substantia nigra, nucleus accumbens, anterior cingulate and orbitofrontal cortices, lateral parabrachial nucleus, and locus coeruleus. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc . Dev Psychobiol 55: 684–697, 2013.