"Social Drinking" Linked to Anxiety Behaviors and Possibility of Dysregulated Genes with Chronic Exposure

 
Study Summary

This study utilized rats to examine the affects of acute ethanol exposure, what researchers defined as "social drinking". Rats were placed in a maze to measure "anxiety-like behaviors". The results showed that both male and female rats had an increase in a gene known as hypoxia-inducible factor 3 alpha subunit (Hif3a) in the amygdala and a "significant increase in the percentage of open-arm entries and percentage of time spent in the open arms" (low anxiety behavior). During withdrawal the rats showed a decrease in Hif3a and an increase in high anxiety behaviors. This shows a link between the gene Hif3a and ethanol-related anxiety behaviors and the possibility that genes could become dysregulated with chronic exposure to ethanol and subsequent withdrawal.

 
Study Citation

Krishnan, H. R., Zhang, H., Chen, Y., Bohnsack, J. P., Shieh, A. W., Kusumo, H., Drnevich, J., Liu, C., Grayson, D. R., Maienschein-Cline, M., & Pandey, S. C. (2022). Unraveling the epigenomic and transcriptomic interplay during alcohol-induced anxiolysis. Molecular Psychiatry. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41380-022-01732-2