Sex differences in the effect of ethanol injection and consumption on brain allopregnanolone levels in C57BL/6 mice
Section snippets
Subjects
Male and female B6 mice (The Jackson Laboratory, Bar Harbor, ME, USA) were purchased at 5–6 weeks of age. For a minimum of 2 weeks, same-sex mice were housed four to a cage, and allowed to acclimate to the temperature- and humidity-controlled environment and to a 12-h reverse light/dark cycle (lights off 0900 h). The light cycle was reversed to allow collection of limited access EtOH consumption data during the animals' dark phase, when the majority of consummatory behavior occurs. Food and
EtOH dose and EtOH preference ratio
The 17-day average EtOH dose consumed by female B6 mice was significantly greater than that consumed by male B6 mice [F(1,46)=6.81, P≤0.05; Fig. 1A] during the daily 2-h limited access sessions. While the EtOH dose consumed by the female mice was 22% higher than that consumed by male B6 mice, both female and male B6 mice exhibited preference for the 10% EtOH solution (Fig. 1B), and no sex difference was observed for this measure.
BECs
The average dose of EtOH consumed on day 17 during the 2-h access
Discussion
The present study examined the effect of EtOH administration, either by voluntary consumption or by injection of a comparable dose, on endogenous ALLOP levels in male and female mice. Consumption of EtOH significantly increased brain ALLOP levels in male but not female B6 mice, compared with water-consuming controls. In contrast, injection of EtOH did not significantly increase brain ALLOP levels in male or female mice. These findings suggest that sex and mode of EtOH administration both can
Acknowledgements
This research was supported by USPHS grants AA12439, AA13478, AA10760 and the Department of Veterans Affairs. We thank Stacy Matthews and Tho Truong for excellent technical assistance.
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Present address: CROET (L-606), Oregon Health & Science University, Portland, OR 97239, USA.