The influence of gestational exposure to alcohol/nicotine on α4β2 receptors in post-partum rats. (2010)

Undergraduates: Nisel Desai, none Sarah Williams none

Faculty Advisor: Josephine Johns
Department: Public Policy

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The drug varenicline in addition to assisting in smoking cessation also reduces alcohol dependency in users. Nicotinic α4β2 binding activity may be the pharmacological mechanism that aids in reducing a patient’s dependencies on alcohol and nicotine. This study utilized autoradiography in order to analyze α4β2 nicotinic receptor activity after gestational exposure to nicotine and alcohol in pregnant Sprague-Dawley rats. Dams were provided an alcohol dosage equal to 35% of caloric intake during gestational days (GD) 5-20, and received nicotine via an implanted nicotine pump (1.5 mg/day) activated on GD 4 to postnatal day (PN) 10.Control dams were not given a diet of alcohol, and were implanted with a vehicle-filled pump. Dams were sacrificed on postnatal day 25 following an abstinence phase. α4β2 receptors in the medial geniculate nuclei (MGN) of the thalamus ,the medial habenula (MHB), ventral tegmental area (VTA), nucleus accumbens, and the dentate gyrus of the hippocampus were analyzed using autoradiography. No apparent differences between control and exposed dams were discerned in the binding activity of α4β2 receptors in any region assessed with the exception of a decrease in the MGN (p<0.05). The lack of a distinction in α4β2 receptor binding in the majority of these brain regions may be attributed to a long abstinence phase that promotes a recovery prior to autoradiography analysis, or the influence of altered brain chemistry during gestation.