title: Social context induces two unique patterns of c-Fos expression in adolescent and adult rats.
abstract: The study assessed possible age differences in brain activation patterns to low dose ethanol (.5 g/kg intraperitoneally) and the influence of social context on this activation. Early adolescent or young adult male Sprague-Dawley rats were placed either alone or with an unfamiliar partner of the same age and sex following saline or ethanol administration. c-Fos protein immunoreactivity was used to index neuronal activation in 15 regions of interest. Ethanol had little effect on c-Fos activation. In adolescents, social context activated an "autonomic" network including the basolateral and central amygdala, bed nucleus of the stria terminalis, lateral hypothalamus, and lateral septum. In contrast, when adult rats were alone, activation was evident in a "reward" network that included the substantia nigra, nucleus accumbens, anterior cingulate and orbitofrontal cortices, lateral parabrachial nucleus, and locus coeruleus.
authors.affiliation: Center for Development and Behavioral Neuroscience, Department of Psychology, Binghamton University, State University of New York, P.O. Box 6000, Binghamton, NY 13902-6000; Developmental Exposure Alcohol Research Center, Binghamton, NY. varlinsk@binghamton.edu.
authors.forename: Elena I
authors.initials: EI
authors.lastname: Varlinskaya
authors.forename: Brent A
authors.initials: BA
authors.lastname: Vogt
authors.forename: Linda P
authors.initials: LP
authors.lastname: Spear
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001522:Behavior, Animal / Q000187:drug effects / Q000502:physiology; D054022:Cerebrum / Q000187:drug effects / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000473:pathology; D000431:Ethanol / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000494:pharmacology; D008297:Male; D009415:Nerve Net / Q000378:metabolism*; D016760:Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-fos / Q000096:biosynthesis*; D051381:Rats; D017207:Rats, Sprague-Dawley; D012201:Reward; D012919:Social Behavior
chemical_list: D016760:Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-fos; D000431:Ethanol