title: Reversibility of object recognition but not spatial memory impairment following binge-like alcohol exposure in rats.
abstract: Excessive alcohol use leads to neurodegeneration in several brain structures including the hippocampal dentate gyrus and the entorhinal cortex. Cognitive deficits that result are among the most insidious and debilitating consequences of alcoholism. The object exploration task (OET) provides a sensitive measurement of spatial memory impairment induced by hippocampal and cortical damage. In this study, we examine whether the observed neurotoxicity produced by a 4-day binge ethanol treatment results in long-term memory impairment by observing the time course of reactions to spatial change (object configuration) and non-spatial change (object recognition). Wistar rats were assessed for their abilities to detect spatial configuration in the OET at 1 week and 10 weeks following the ethanol treatment, in which ethanol groups received 9-15 g/kg/day and achieved blood alcohol levels over 300 mg/dl. At 1 week, results indicated that the binge alcohol treatment produced impairment in both spatial memory and non-spatial object recognition performance. Unlike the controls, ethanol treated rats did not increase the duration or number of contacts with the displaced object in the spatial memory task, nor did they increase the duration of contacts with the novel object in the object recognition task. After 10 weeks, spatial memory remained impaired in the ethanol treated rats but object recognition ability was recovered. Our data suggest that episodes of binge-like alcohol exposure result in long-term and possibly permanent impairments in memory for the configuration of objects during exploration, whereas the ability to detect non-spatial changes is only temporarily affected.
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Clinical and Translational Studies (LCTS), National Institute of Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA), National Institutes of Health (NIH) Bethesda, MD 20892, USA. cippitellia@mail.nih.gov
authors.forename: Andrea
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Cippitelli
authors.forename: Michelle
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Zook
authors.forename: Lauren
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Bell
authors.forename: Ruslan
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Damadzic
authors.forename: Robert L
authors.initials: RL
authors.lastname: Eskay
authors.forename: Melanie
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Schwandt
authors.forename: Markus
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Heilig
mesh_terms: D000428:Alcohol Drinking / Q000009:adverse effects / Q000473:pathology; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D000818:Animals; D016923:Cell Death; D002492:Central Nervous System Depressants / Q000097:blood / Q000506:poisoning*; D018891:Dentate Gyrus / Q000187:drug effects / Q000473:pathology; D004192:Discrimination, Psychological / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000502:physiology; D004195:Disease Models, Animal; D018728:Entorhinal Cortex / Q000187:drug effects / Q000473:pathology; D000431:Ethanol / Q000097:blood / Q000506:poisoning*; D005106:Exploratory Behavior / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000502:physiology; D008297:Male; D009410:Nerve Degeneration / Q000139:chemically induced / Q000473:pathology; D009474:Neurons / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000473:pathology; D051381:Rats; D017208:Rats, Wistar; D011930:Reaction Time / Q000187:drug effects; D021641:Recognition, Psychology / Q000187:drug effects / Q000502:physiology; D020127:Recovery of Function; D013028:Space Perception / Q000187:drug effects / Q000502:physiology; D013037:Spatial Behavior / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000502:physiology; D013997:Time Factors
chemical_list: D002492:Central Nervous System Depressants; D000431:Ethanol