# Main Research Component 4: Sex-specific neural contributors to high social drinking in adolescence

> **NIH NIH P50** · STATE UNIVERSITY OF NY,BINGHAMTON · 2020 · $312,753

## Abstract

PROJECT SUMMARY/ABSTRACT
MAIN RESEARCH COMPONENT 4
Alcohol is one of the most widely used substances by American adolescents, with binge and heavy drinking
evident in almost two thirds of underage current drinkers. These high rates of binge and heavy drinking are
alarming, since adolescents who engage in even episodic heavy drinking are more likely to exhibit alcohol use
disorders and other adverse consequences later in life. Young people predominantly drink in social situations,
although this context specificity – let alone sex differences in sensitivity to social consequences – has been
little investigated. Using a rat model of adolescence, we have shown pronounced qualitative sex differences in
the precursors and effects of ethanol contributing to high social drinking among adolescents. High social
drinking among males is associated with high social activity and enhanced sensitivity to the socially facilitating
effects of ethanol, whereas in adolescent females, higher levels of social drinking are associated with elevated
social anxiety and enhanced sensitivity to the socially anxiolytic effects of ethanol. The present proposal is
designed to separately determine brain regions that are responsible for high social activity and sensitivity to
ethanol-induced social facilitation in adolescent males, in contrast to regions related to high social anxiety and
enhanced sensitivity to the socially anxiolytic effects of ethanol in females. Target brain regions that are
differentially activated in males and females with high social drinking phenotypes will be determined using
transgenic cFos-LacZ rats and X-Gal staining for c-Fos. The Daun02 procedure will then be used to selectively
inactivate neuronal ensembles in specified target regions that were activated by the social stimulus alone or in
combination with acute EtOH, and consequences of this inactivation on subsequent social drinking determined
in male and female high social drinkers. We expect that inactivation of neural ensembles activated by social
interactions alone or in combination with acute EtOH in high socially active males will attenuate social drinking
in these animals, whereas inactivation of neuronal ensembles activated in high socially anxious adolescent
females by social stimuli will diminish social drinking in these females. Given the critical importance of brain
vasopressin/oxytocin peptide systems in regulation of social behavior and social anxiety, we will also test the
hypothesis that high social drinking in males is associated with hyperactivity of the brain vasopressin V1a
receptor, whereas functional hypoactivity of the brain oxytocin system contributes to high social drinking in
adolescent females. These hypotheses will be tested neuropharmacologically and via assessment of protein
levels for oxytocin and vasopressin and their receptors in the brain regions sex-specifically associated with
high drinking phenotypes. The work outlined in this proposal will be among the first ...

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10006495
- **Project number:** 5P50AA017823-12
- **Recipient organization:** STATE UNIVERSITY OF NY,BINGHAMTON
- **Principal Investigator:** LINDA PATIA SPEAR
- **Activity code:** P50 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2020
- **Award amount:** $312,753
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2009-09-01 → 2024-08-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10006495

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10006495, Main Research Component 4: Sex-specific neural contributors to high social drinking in adolescence (5P50AA017823-12). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-23 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10006495. Licensed CC0.

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