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Authors & Affiliations
Olivier Pierrefiche, Margot Debris, Chloé Deschamps, Mickael Naassila
Abstract
Binge drinking (BD) consists in high and rapid episodes of ethanol consumption interspaced with abstinence. Studies in adolescent rats showed that history of BD during this period of brain maturation impair memory on the long-term. However, the mechanisms of these effects remain unclear. Others and we found that pre-treatment with minocycline, an antibiotic with anti-inflammatory properties prevented some of the negative effects of BD on hippocampus long-term synaptic depression (LTD) and learning behaviour. However, whether NMDA- and mGlu-LTD are similarly affected, and which of these forms of LTD is disturbs on the long-term after a history of BD has never been determined on a unique cohort of animals and, whether minocycline may restore instead of preventing the alcohol-related deficits is unknown. Adolescent rats received two binges a day (3g/kg, i.p., 20% v/v, 9h interval), every other day between P35 and P41. NMDA- and mGluR1/5-LTD were recorded 3 and 8 days after ethanol exposure in CA1 area of hippocampus slice. Minocycline post-treatment consisted in one i.p. injection (45 mg/kg i.p.) 30 min after the last ethanol exposure and once a day (30 mg/kg, i.p.), the two following days. Three days after ethanol, NMDA-LTD and mGluR1/5-LTD were both reduced. NMDA-LTD recovered after 8 days while mGluR1/5-LTD remained reduced. Importantly, 24h after minocycline mGluR1/5-LTD was restored, not NMDA-LTD. We conclude that BD during adolescence disrupts selectively and on the long-term mGluR1/5-LTD only, probably via a neuroinflammatory process. Thus, anti-inflammatory drugs seem to be an interesting therapeutic strategy to counteract some effects of BD.