Document Type
Thesis
Date of Degree Completion
Spring 2011
Degree Name
Bachelor of Science
Department
Psychology
Committee Chair
Dr. Kara I Gabriel, Department of Psychology
Second Committee Member
Dr. Suzanne Mitchell, Department of Behavioral Neuroscience, Oregon Health & Science University
Third Committee Member
Dr. Audrey D. Huerta, Director Science Honors Research Program
Abstract
Early environmental stressors may play an important role in the development of alcohol abuse and alcoholism in humans. An animal model of early environmental disturbance, termed maternal separation (MS), has been shown to affect alcohol self-administration in adult animals with short periods of daily separation (e.g., 15 min) resulting in lower alcohol intake in adulthood than longer periods of separation (e.g., 180 or 360 min). The current research investigated the possibility that differences in adult alcohol intake following MS may be due, in part, to alterations in alcohol responses independently from the alcohol's reinforcing properties. In particular, the effects of short (15 min) and prolonged (180 min) postnatal MS on alcohol-induced anxiety-like behavior (i.e., anxiolytic responses) and alcohol-induced sedation were examined in adult Swiss-Webster mice. The results of the loss of righting reflex (LORR) showed that male offspring from prolonged MS conditions demonstrated altered sensitivity to the sedative effects of a threshold does of alcohol. As well, while no differences were observed among MS conditions on baseline or alcohol-induced anxiolytic behavior on the elevated zero-maze (EZM), differences in alcohol-induced locomotor activity were observed.
Recommended Citation
Beckstrom, Rachel, "The Effects of Maternal Separation on Alcohol Responses in Adult Mice" (2011). Undergraduate Honors Theses. 59.
https://digitalcommons.cwu.edu/undergrad_hontheses/59
Comments
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