# 2/8 NADIA U01 Adolescent Alcohol Exposure: Neural Contributors to Sex- and Exposure Timing-Specific Anxiety

> **NIH NIH U01** · STATE UNIVERSITY OF NY,BINGHAMTON · 2020 · $391,360

## Abstract

Project Summary
Our current work in the NIAAA consortium on the Neurobiology of Adolescent Drinking in Adulthood (NADIA)
has revealed that long-lasting behavioral consequences of adolescent intermittent ethanol exposure (AIE) are
sex- and exposure timing-dependent. When tested in adulthood, only male rats exposed to ethanol during
early-mid adolescence (early AIE) demonstrate social alterations that include social anxiety and enhanced
sensitivity to ethanol-induced social facilitation, with exposure to ethanol later in adolescence (late AIE) having
no such consequences. Our most important translational finding is that a selective oxytocin receptor (OXTR)
agonist reverses the male-specific social anxiety. At the cellular and molecular levels, sex-specific
consequences of early AIE are evident as alterations in dendritic spine morphology and decreases in OXTR
mRNA and protein expression in the hypothalamus. Our current proposal will address critical gaps arising from
this work. Aim 1 will identify socially relevant regions differentially activated in adult males and females by
social stimuli following early AIE and will test whether recruitment of neuronal ensembles in identified brain
regions is required for male-specific social affective alterations. Aim 2 will further assess AIE-induced
alterations of the OXT system contributing to male-specific social anxiety and will investigate neural
mechanisms underlying the reversal effects of OXTR pharmacological activation. Aim 3 is designed to test
whether AIE selectively disrupts epigenetic regulation of the OXT neuromodulatory peptide system in brain
regions critical for normal social functioning.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10073843
- **Project number:** 2U01AA019972-11
- **Recipient organization:** STATE UNIVERSITY OF NY,BINGHAMTON
- **Principal Investigator:** ELENA I VARLINSKAYA
- **Activity code:** U01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2020
- **Award amount:** $391,360
- **Award type:** 2
- **Project period:** 2010-09-05 → 2025-08-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10073843

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10073843, 2/8 NADIA U01 Adolescent Alcohol Exposure: Neural Contributors to Sex- and Exposure Timing-Specific Anxiety (2U01AA019972-11). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-23 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10073843. Licensed CC0.

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