title: Chronic alcohol consumption from adolescence to adulthood in mice--hypothalamic gene expression changes in insulin-signaling pathway.
abstract: Adolescence is a developmental stage vulnerable to alcohol drinking-related problems, and alcohol exposure during adolescence may lead to long-lasting consequences. The hypothalamus is a key brain region for food and water intake regulation as well as weight control, and is one of the alcohol-sensitive brain regions. However, it is not known what the alcohol effect is on the hypothalamus following adolescent alcohol intake, chronically over adolescent development, at moderate levels. We employed a model of chronic moderate alcohol intake from adolescence to adulthood in mice, and analyzed the effect of alcohol on growth and weight gain, as well as hypothalamic gene expression patterns. The results indicated that chronic alcohol consumption during adolescence, even at moderate levels, led to both a reduction in weight gain in mice, and considerable gene expression changes in the hypothalamus. Pathway analysis and real-time PCR identified the type II diabetes mellitus and the insulin-signaling pathways as being the hypothalamic pathways affected by chronic alcohol. Our findings from the mouse alcohol consumption study therefore serve as a potential warning against alcohol consumption during adolescence, such as in teens and college students.
authors.affiliation: Shanghai Institutes for Biological Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai, China; Shanghai-MOST Key Laboratory of Health and Disease Genomics, Chinese National Human Genome Center at Shanghai and National Engineering Research Center for Biochip at Shanghai, Shanghai, China; Department of Cardiothoracic Surgery, Shu Guang Hospital Affiliated with the Shanghai Traditional Medicine University, Shanghai, China.
authors.forename: Ke
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: Shanghai-MOST Key Laboratory of Health and Disease Genomics, Chinese National Human Genome Center at Shanghai and National Engineering Research Center for Biochip at Shanghai, Shanghai, China.
authors.forename: Huaiguang
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Song
authors.affiliation: Shanghai Institutes for Biological Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai, China.
authors.forename: Meilei
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Jin
authors.affiliation: Shanghai-MOST Key Laboratory of Health and Disease Genomics, Chinese National Human Genome Center at Shanghai and National Engineering Research Center for Biochip at Shanghai, Shanghai, China.
authors.forename: Huasheng
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Xiao
authors.affiliation: Shanghai Institutes for Biological Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai, China; State Key Laboratory of Genetic Engineering, Department of Microbiology, School of Life Sciences and Institute of Biomedical Sciences, Fudan University, Shanghai, China; Department of Microbiology and Li Ka Shing Institute of Health Sciences, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Prince of Wales Hospital, Hong Kong SAR, China. Electronic address: gpzhao@sibs.ac.cn.
authors.forename: Guoping
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Zhao
authors.affiliation: Shanghai Institutes for Biological Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai, China; State Key Laboratory of Genetic Engineering, Department of Microbiology, School of Life Sciences and Institute of Biomedical Sciences, Fudan University, Shanghai, China. Electronic address: hzhou01@sibs.ac.cn.
authors.forename: Hong
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Zou
authors.affiliation: Department of Genetics & Center of Alcohol Studies, Rutgers University, 607 Allison Road, Piscataway, NJ 08854, USA. Electronic address: yu@biology.rutgers.edu.
authors.forename: Lei
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Yu
mesh_terms: D000367:Age Factors; D000437:Alcoholism / Q000378:metabolism*; D000818:Animals; D001835:Body Weight / Q000187:drug effects; D020869:Gene Expression Profiling; D007031:Hypothalamus / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000378:metabolism; D007328:Insulin / Q000502:physiology*; D008297:Male; D051379:Mice; D008813:Mice, Inbred ICR; D015398:Signal Transduction / Q000187:drug effects*
chemical_list: D007328:Insulin
keywords: Adolescence; Chronic alcohol drinking; Gene expression; Hypothalamus; Insulin-signaling pathway; Type II diabetes mellitus