title: Modulation of the stress response by ethanol in the rat frontal cortex.
abstract: Microdialysis was used to characterize the effects of two doses of ethanol, stress, and their interaction on the dopaminergic system. Saline-treated animals showed no changes in levels of dopamine (DA) or dihydroxyphenylacetic acid (DOPAC). Neither a 0.5- nor a 2-g/kg IP injection of ethanol had an effect on DA or DOPAC in resting animals. Immobilization caused marked increases in DA levels and smaller increases in DOPAC. Pretreatment with 0.5 g/kg ethanol did not reduce the stress-induced increase in DA or DOPAC. However, pretreatment with 2 g/kg ethanol strongly reduced and antagonized the stress-induced increases in DA and potentiated the stress-induced increase in extracellular DOPAC. Our data show that ethanol can have different, dose-dependent effects in resting vs. stressed animals, that it has different effects on DA and DOPAC, and that the high dose antagonized stress-induced increases in DA. The latter adds biochemical evidence to the tension-reduction hypothesis of ethanol by perhaps implicating a reduction in the DA stress response by ethanol as a contributing factor in the development of alcoholism.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pharmacology, Jefferson Medical College, Thomas Jefferson University, Philadelphia, PA 19107.
authors.forename: A A
authors.initials: AA
authors.lastname: Hegarty
authors.forename: W H
authors.initials: WH
authors.lastname: Vogel
mesh_terms: D015102:3,4-Dihydroxyphenylacetic Acid / Q000378:metabolism; D000437:Alcoholism / Q000209:etiology; D000818:Animals; D002540:Cerebral Cortex / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000378:metabolism; D004298:Dopamine / Q000378:metabolism; D004305:Dose-Response Relationship, Drug; D000431:Ethanol / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000633:toxicity*; D008297:Male; D051381:Rats; D017207:Rats, Sprague-Dawley; D013312:Stress, Physiological / Q000378:metabolism*
chemical_list: D015102:3,4-Dihydroxyphenylacetic Acid; D000431:Ethanol; D004298:Dopamine