Effects of chronic exposure to ethanol or to social defeat stress on the stimulant and reinforcing effects of ethanol: involvement of the CRF system

• Grant number: 13/01562-2
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Doctorate
• Start date: June 01, 2013
• End date: March 31, 2017
• Field of knowledge: Biological Sciences - Pharmacology - Neuropsychopharmacology
• Principal Investigator: Isabel Marian Hartmann de Quadros
• Grantee: Giovana Camila de Macedo
• Host Institution: Escola Paulista de Medicina (EPM). Universidade Federal de São Paulo (UNIFESP). Campus São Paulo. São Paulo , SP, Brazil

Abstract

Chronic exposure to ethanol, as well as to other drugs of abuse, promotes neuroadaptations in the brain reward system which becomes "sensitized", facilitating the stimulant and rewarding effects of the drugs. In a similar way, episodic social defeat stress seems to be able to sensitize the reward pathways, promoting cross sensitization with drugs and contributing for increased drug intake. On the other hand, continuous social defeat stress seems to induce an "anhedonic" state which is associated with reduced stimulant and motivational drug effects. Several pieces of evidence point to the CRF (corticotropin release factor) system as an important modulator of the reward pathways, underlying both the effects of ethanol as well as those of stress. The present study focuses on understanding whether repeated exposure to ethanol or to either type of social stress (episodic VS. continuous) will increase the vulnerability for the stimulant and reinforcing effects of ethanol. We will also determine if changes in gene expression of components of the brain CRF system could be a putative mechanism contributing for this process. (AU)

Scientific publications

(References retrieved automatically from Web of Science and SciELO through information on FAPESP grants and their corresponding numbers as mentioned in the publications by the authors)

FAVORETTO, CRISTIANE A.; NUNES, YASMIN C.; MACEDO, GIOVANA C.; ROCHA LOPES, JANAINA SILVA; HARTMANN QUADROS, ISABEL M.. Chronic social defeat stress: Impacts on ethanol-induced stimulation, corticosterone response, and brain monoamine levels. JOURNAL OF PSYCHOPHARMACOLOGY, v. 34, n. 4, JAN 2020. (14/14623-2, 16/04309-4, 13/01562-2)

HARTMANN QUADROS, ISABEL MARIAN; MACEDO, GIOVANA CAMILA; DOMINGUES, LIZ PAOLA; FAVORETTO, CRISTIANE APARECIDA. An Update on CRF Mechanisms Underlying Alcohol Use Disorders and Dependence. FRONTIERS IN ENDOCRINOLOGY, v. 7, OCT 21 2016. (14/14623-2, 13/01562-2)