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General Anesthetic Exposure During Early Adolescence Persistently Alters Ethanol Responses
Author(s) -
Landin Justine D.,
GoreLangton Jonathan K.,
Varlinskaya Elena I.,
Spear Linda P.,
Werner David F.
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
alcoholism: clinical and experimental research
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.267
H-Index - 153
eISSN - 1530-0277
pISSN - 0145-6008
DOI - 10.1111/acer.14291
Subject(s) - anesthetic , exacerbation , alcohol , population , isoflurane , medicine , anesthesia , young adult , psychology , physiology , developmental psychology , environmental health , chemistry , biochemistry
Background Adolescent alcohol abuse can lead to behavioral dysfunction and chronic, relapsing alcohol use disorder (AUD) in adulthood. However, not all adolescents that consume alcohol will develop an AUD; therefore, it is critical to identify neural and environmental risk factors that contribute to increases in susceptibility to AUDs following adolescent alcohol (ethanol [EtOH]) exposure. We previously found that adolescent anesthetic exposure led to strikingly similar behavioral and neural effects as adolescent alcohol exposure. Therefore, we tested the hypothesis that general anesthetic exposure during early adolescence would alter EtOH responses consistent with an exacerbation of the adolescent alcohol phenotype. Methods To test this hypothesis, early‐adolescent male Sprague‐Dawley rats were exposed for a short duration to the general anesthetic isoflurane and tested on multiple EtOH‐induced behaviors in mid‐late adolescence or adulthood. Results Adolescent rats exposed to isoflurane exhibited decreases in sensitivity to negative properties of EtOH such as its aversive, hypnotic, and socially suppressive effects, as well as increases in voluntary EtOH intake and cognitive impairment. Select behaviors were noted to persist into adulthood following adolescent isoflurane exposure. Similar exposure in adults had no effects on EtOH sensitivity. Conclusions This study demonstrates for the first time that early‐adolescent isoflurane exposure alters EtOH sensitivity in a manner consistent with an exacerbation of adolescent‐typical alcohol responding. These findings suggest that general anesthetic exposure during adolescence may be an environmental risk factor contributing to an enhanced susceptibility to developing AUDs in an already vulnerable population.