Tag: rodent research

Rejection of adolescent female rats by their peers has long-term effects on alcohol-seeking behavior, according to a study in Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research, and could provide a tool for studying alcohol relapse in humans. There is growing evidence from experimental studies that women who had adverse social experiences in childhood are more susceptible to alcohol relapse following abstinence. This is not observed in men, despite men having higher rates of alcohol dependence overall. Laboratory-bred rodents are important for studying the molecular and neurobiological underpinnings of addiction and alcohol dependence, but few animal studies have assessed the sex-dependent effects of adverse social experiences on later alcohol-seeking behavior. Recently, researchers in Germany have developed a rat model for adolescent peer rejection which has allowed them to study the long-term consequences of these experiences in adult male and female rats.