Intermittent social isolation during adolescence increases ethanol preference in males and females and alters irritability-like behaviors and synaptic transmission in the CeA of adult males

Chronic stress during adolescence increases the susceptibility to many neuropsychiatric diseases in adulthood, including anxiety-like and alcohol drinking behaviors. Social isolation is a particularly profound stressor with increasing human relevance, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic, when millions of adolescents faced prolonged periods of isolation. However, preclinical rodent models of adolescent social stress have produced mixed results that are often sex, species and strain-dependent. Here we examined the effect of intermittent social isolation on alcohol intake and preference during adolescence (PND28-56) and its long-term effects and alcohol drinking on anxiety, irritability, and synaptic transmission in both male and female Wistar rats. To this goal, we developed and utilized a new model of social isolation and alcohol exposure whereby adolescent (PND28) male and female rats were intermittently socially isolated for 24h prior to 2-bottle choice (2BC) access to ethanol (20% v/v, 2h/session, Tues/Thur/Sat) vs. water, for 4 weeks. Two weeks later (young adults), all rats were tested for anxiety in the novelty induced hypophagia test and irritability-like behavior in the bottle brush test, and a subset was used to record spontaneous inhibitory GABAergic postsynaptic currents (sIPSCs) in the central nucleus of the amygdala (CeA). Additionally, we studied genetically selected Marchigian Sardinian alcohol-preferring (msP) rats to compare the effects of social isolation in a rat strain of increased alcohol preference vulnerability and high sensitivity to anxiety. Social isolation increased alcohol preference in both male and female Wistars when compared to the group-housed controls, starting from week 1 and throughout adolescence. All msP rats displayed escalation of drinking during week 1 and 2 and the effect of the isolation was observed starting from week 3 in males only. No isolation effects were observed in female msPs throughout the 4 weeks. Social isolation and alcohol drinking during adolescence increased aggressive-like behavior in male adult Wistar rats, but not females, and did not alter anxiety measures. Baseline frequency of sIPSCs was decreased in socially isolated male Wistar and msP adult rats vs. group-housed, while rise times, amplitudes, and decay times remained unchanged, indicating reduced basal presynaptic GABA release in the CeA. Together, these findings suggest that an intermittent social isolation produces increased alcohol preference in Wistar rats of both sexes and in male msPs, as well as synaptic changes in the CeA.Copyright © 2023

Delicate formative experiences: Weaving spaces of care and teaching with university students during the pandemic (abstract: P 13)

Educational processes have demanded and enabled professors and students to design and live training and care experiences in response to the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic. This study documents a formative experience with occupational therapy students from a public university during the pandemic. The experience was analyzed in two moments that we call “breaths”. During the first moment, we held virtual voluntarily attended talking circles with students;in the second, through an optional module offered to students, artistic and bodily practices were taught as devices for care, expression and bodily connection. The students highlighted the importance of creating a trusted environment and supporting a collective proposal, enabling the construction of sensitive, inventive and critical bodies, which is essential for professional practice. © 2022, Fundacao UNI Botucatu/UNESP. All rights reserved.

Delicate formative experiences: weaving spaces of care and teaching with university students during the pandemic

Educational processes have demanded and enabled professors and students to design and live training and care experiences in response to the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic. This study documents a formative experience with occupational therapy students from a public university during the pandemic. The experience was analyzed in two moments that we call "breaths". During the first moment, we held virtual voluntarily attended talking circles with students;in the second, through an optional module offered to students, artistic and bodily practices were taught as devices for care, expression and bodily connection. The students highlighted the importance of creating a trusted environment and supporting a collective proposal, enabling the construction of sensitive, inventive and critical bodies, which is essential for professional practice.