Hartwig, Jadyn

Introduction As the age of the world’s population continues to increase it is important to investigate behaviors, such as alcohol consumption, that may negatively impact the health of the older population. Materials In the present study, aged, young adult and adolescent female and male C57BL/6J mice underwent a measure of acute alcohol withdrawal via a handling induced convulsion study followed by a drinking in the dark procedure to measure alcohol self-administration. Results We report that aged animals enter acute alcohol withdrawal later than younger animals as measured by later onset of handling induced convulsions. The later onset is likely due to reduced alcohol metabolism. Furthermore, aged animals consumed significantly less alcohol in the drinking in the dark paradigm but had similar blood alcohol concentrations compared to younger animals. Discussion The current work demonstrates for the first time differential alcohol self-administration and acute alcohol withdrawal in aged animals compared to younger animals.

Abstract Introduction This study investigated if acute alcohol exposure produces sex differences in aged rats compared to adult and adolescent rats on ataxia and nonspatial cognition. Materials and Methods Sex- and age-related differences were assessed by using aged, young adult, and adolescent Sprague–Dawley rats. For acute alcohol exposure, animals were administered either 1 or 2 g/kg alcohol via intraperitoneal injection before testing. To examine the effects of acute alcohol exposure on balance and motor control and nonspatial learning, animals underwent behavioral testing in the aerial righting reflex (ARR) and Morris water maze (MWM) tests. Blood alcohol levels were determined 60 min following administration of either 1.0 or 2.0 g/kg alcohol. Results Sex differences were found in the ARR, as aged females were significantly less sensitive to the effect of acute alcohol exposure compared to aged males. Age was also found to significantly affect ARR performance, where aged animals performed worse than younger animals in response to acute alcohol. However, these sex- and age-related differences were not found in the nonspatial MWM test or in blood alcohol concentrations. Conclusions These results indicate that the sex- and age-dependent effects of acute alcohol exposure are task specific. In conclusion, these findings highlight the importance of studying the effects of acute alcohol on the aged population.