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Excitatory/inhibitory balance across ontogeny contributes to age‐specific behavioral outcomes of ethanol‐like challenge in conditioned taste aversion
Author(s) -
Dannenhoffer Carol A.,
Spear Linda P.
Publication year - 2019
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.21864
Subject(s) - ifenprodil , taste aversion , glutamate receptor , agonist , nmda receptor , glutamatergic , nbqx , antagonist , medicine , excitatory postsynaptic potential , inhibitory postsynaptic potential , endocrinology , psychology , neurochemical , receptor , chemistry , neuroscience , taste , ampa receptor
Adolescent‐typical sensitivities to ethanol (EtOH) are characterized in part by reduced sensitivity to EtOH's aversive effects. Rodent studies have shown that adolescents are less sensitive than adults to aversive properties of EtOH in a conditioned taste aversion (CTA) paradigm. To the extent that EtOH exerts antagonist‐like actions upon glutamate receptors and/or agonist‐like actions upon γ‐aminobutyric acid (GABA) receptors, age differences in excitatory/inhibitory balance may regulate age‐specific EtOH sensitivities, such as attenuated sensitivity of adolescents to EtOH aversion. In our experiments, adolescent and adult Sprague‐Dawley rats were tested for CTA following challenge with one of the following pharmacological agents: glutamatergic AMPA1 receptor antagonist NBQX, glutamatergic N ‐methyl‐ d ‐aspartate NR2B receptor antagonist ifenprodil, and extrasynaptic GABA A receptor agonist THIP to determine whether these induced age‐specific aversive sensitivities like those seen with EtOH. NBQX administration did not induce CTA. The highest dose of extrasynaptic GABA A agonist THIP induced CTA in adolescents but not adults, an opposite ontogenetic profile as seen following EtOH. Ifenprodil exerted an age‐specific pattern of CTA similar to that seen with EtOH in males, with adolescents being insensitive to ifenprodil's aversive effects relative to adults. Thus, only antagonism of NR2B receptors in male rats mimicked age‐specific sensitivities to the aversive effects of EtOH.