Social Defeat Stress and Ethanol Self-Administration

Kent State University At Kent, Kent OH

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Abstract

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The proposed study is expected to contribute new evidence to the existing body of knowledge of social stress and reward-related behaviors. In particular, the proposed research project will examine how social stress influences alcohol consumption using an animal model. Animal models of social stress are relevant to the study of human populations, because social stress is an unavoidable component of human experience. The proposed project will investigate how a series of successive social stressors influences ethanol self-administration in animals, and whether contextual factors moderate this relationship. The present design will utilize the resident-intruder paradigm, a free-choice ethanol self-administration procedure, and measurement of ethanol consumption and blood alcohol content at multiple time points surrounding defeat stress. Thus, knowledge gained from the present experiment will enhance the understanding of the impact stress has upon ethanol consumption in various contexts and at multiple time intervals.