Browsing by Subject "Adolescence."
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Item Chronic intermittent ethanol treatment yields persistent increases in anxiety and receptor subunit changes in adolescent and adult rats.(2014-01-28) Van Skike, Candice E.; Diaz-Granados, Jaime L.; Matthews, Douglas B.; Psychology and Neuroscience.; Baylor University. Dept. of Psychology and Neuroscience.GABAA and NMDA receptors are involved in the behavioral effects of ethanol; however, the age-dependent molecular mechanisms associated with the effects of chronic ethanol have yet to be fully elucidated. Adolescence is marked by unique sensitivity to certain effects of ethanol, including distinct consumption patterns, increased prevalence of consumption during young adulthood compared to that of abstaining adolescents, and increased risk for development of future alcohol use disorders. In the adult, tolerance and dependence are marked by attenuated function of GABAA receptors and increased function of NMDA receptors, but the receptor subunit expression profiles for adolescents following binge-like ethanol exposure are not yet completely known. Since tolerance and withdrawal appear to be age dependent, it is likely that receptor subunit expression is differentially altered following chronic ethanol exposure in adolescence compared to adulthood. Additionally, chronic ethanol exposure and its withdrawal can alter behavior. Especially relevant to the maintenance and persistence of consumption behaviors are alterations in anxiety. Anxiety levels can often be used to predict relapse in detoxified alcohol-dependent patients long after ethanol cessation, therefore it is important to determine the persistence of the anxiogenic effects of ethanol withdrawal and how alterations in receptor subunits may interact with withdrawal-induced anxiogenesis. Given that very little research has focused on age dependent anxiogenesis and subunit alterations following chronic ethanol consumption, this project will investigate multiple withdrawal induced changes in anxiety and its persistence in adolescent and adult rats. Additionally, the persistence of any changes in receptor subunit expression will be assessed using the same animals from the anxiety data. This multimodal, within-subjects design allows for the direct exploration of the relationship between behavioral and molecular alterations due to chronic ethanol exposure.Item PKCγ expression in adolescent and adult rats : evidence for a cerebellar mechanism underlying age-dependent motor impairments produced by acute ethanol.(John Wiley & Sons., 2010-12) Van Skike, Candice E.; Diaz-Granados, Jaime L.; Matthews, Douglas B.; Psychology and Neuroscience.; Baylor University. Dept. of Psychology and Neuroscience.Adolescents are less sensitive to ethanol-induced motor impairments compared to adults; however, a definitive mechanism underlying this difference has not been identified. Compared to wild-type littermates, PKCγ knock-out mice exhibit reduced motor sensitivity to ethanol; it is plausible that adolescent rats also have reduced PKCγ expression in brain regions responsible for motor function, specifically the cerebellum and cortex. Reduced PKCγ expression in these regions may govern the age-dependent motor impairments produced by ethanol. The current study analyzed membrane-bound PKCγ expression in adolescent and adult rats 40 minutes after an acute ethanol or saline injection. Western blot analysis indicates adolescent rats have reduced PKCγ expression in the cerebellum and cortex compared to adults. It is concluded that PKCγ expression may be part of a larger mechanism regulating the age-dependent motor impairments produced by acute ethanol administration.Item Taurine : a novel approach to reducing the reinforcing properties of ethanol in adolescents.(2011-05-12T15:36:53Z) Helfand, Rebecca S.; Diaz-Granados, Jaime L.; Psychology and Neuroscience.; Baylor University. Dept. of Psychology and Neuroscience.Adolescent ethanol use continues to be a societal problem with ethanol drinking beginning as early as 11 years old. Early initiation of drinking behavior is indicative of an increased risk for future substance abuse problems. This may stem from ethanol-induced changes in the brain that could potentially increase the rewarding properties of ethanol, making a person more likely to drink in the future. The neuroprotective amino acid taurine may attenuate ethanol-induced changes in the brain, potentially reducing the reinforcing properties of ethanol. In this study, three experiments were conducted using behavioral tests and tissue analysis to investigate the effects of taurine treatment on ethanol self-administration in C57BL/6J mice. Experiment 1 measured ethanol consumption in adolescent mice with the two-bottle choice test resulting in reduced ethanol preference, but not consumption. Experiment 2 utilized the drinking in the dark protocol, in adolescents, revealing a 20% decrease in ethanol intake in the taurine-treated group. This effect was ethanol specific, as consumption of a sucrose solution was not similarly decreased by taurine treatment. Upon completion of drinking in the dark testing, two tissues within the mesolimbic dopamine system, the VTA and NAc, were extracted and analyzed for amino acid and dopamine content. Amino acid analysis revealed that taurine treatment effectively increased taurine concentrations in both the VTA and NAc. Dopamine turnover in the NAc of the taurine-treated/ethanol exposed group was significantly lower than their water-treated counterparts. Turnover of dopamine in the NAc increases in response to reinforcing stimuli. A reduction in turnover therefore indicates a decrease in the reward associated with ethanol consumption. The reduction in ethanol consumption, in the taurine-treated group, can therefore be explained, at least in part, by the decrease in dopamine turnover in the NAc. Experiment 3 investigated the efficacy of taurine treatment in adults using the drinking in the dark procedure. Treatment did not significantly change ethanol intake, revealing the effect to be adolescent specific. Given the efficacy of taurine treatment in reducing ethanol consumption in an adolescent population, it may be a potential new direction for the investigation into therapeutic mechanisms to reduce drinking behavior.Item Understanding the impact of Equine-Assisted Learning on levels of hope in at-risk adolescents.(2012-11-29) Frederick, Karen E.; Ivey-Hatz, Julie K., 1971-; Educational Psychology.; Baylor University. Dept. of Educational Psychology.In this study, the researcher uses an experimental design to investigate the impact of five-week intervention of group Equine-Assisted Learning (EAL) on levels of hope, self-efficacy, and depression in at-risk adolescents. A randomized, longitudinal, repeated measures method is utilized with a treatment group and a control group. Participants in the experimental group participated in a five-week equine-assisted intervention entitled Leading Adolescents to Successful School Outcomes (LASSO) in addition to receiving the regularly provided services of their school. Participants in the control group received only the regularly provided services of their school counselors. Analysis of variance was used to analyze the main effects of the treatment on measurements of hope, self-efficacy, and depression utilizing the Adolescent Domain-Specific Hope Scale (Frederick, 2011), the New Generalized Self-Efficacy Scale (Chen et al., 2001), and the Major Depression Inventory (Bech, 1998; Bech et al., 2001). Data was collected pre- and post-intervention, as well as weekly during the intervention.