Baseline cortisol predicts drunkorexia in female but not male college students.

OBJECTIVE: "Drunkorexia" or compensatory eating behaviors in response to alcohol consumption, resembles a subclinical eating disorder, and is a current public health concern. Eating disorders and alcohol abuse are associated with dysfunction of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis (HPA). One index of HPA function is cortisol. As causes of drunkorexia remain elusive, the present study examined cortisol function as it relates to drunkorexia. Participants:n = 73 (49 women) college students. Method: Participants provided daytime saliva samples for cortisol analyses prior to completing an online survey measuring alcohol consumption, drunkorexia, and alcohol problems as measured by the Rutgers Alcohol Problem Index (RAPI). Results: Multiple regressions indicated that baseline cortisol significantly positively correlated with drunkorexia behaviors in women but not men. Higher baseline cortisol and aspects of drunkorexia related to alcohol problems. Conclusion: Programs educating about stress management and health risks of drunkorexia may decrease engagement in drunkorexia behaviors among college students.

Prefrontal control of trace eyeblink conditioning in rabbits (Oryctolagus cuniculus) II: effects of type of unconditioned stimulus (airpuff vs. periorbital shock) and unconditioned stimulus intensity.

Previous research has implicated the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) in the control of classically conditioned autonomic and somatomotor responses. In eyeblink (EB) classical conditioning prefrontal involvement appears to be limited to paradigms that are more difficult to learn, in that acquisition is slower. These include trace conditioning and discrimination/reversal. Some of this research suggests that the participation of mPFC in classical EB conditioning is related to the intensity or type of unconditioned stimulus (US) employed. In the present two experiments we thus studied the effects of manipulation of periorbital shock intensity as the US in Experiment 1 and in Experiment 2 the intensity of a corneal airpuff as the US on Pavlovian trace EB conditioning. The results indicate that there are optimal intensities of both airpuff and periorbital shock as the US in the demonstration of mPFC control of trace classical EB conditioning.

Impairments in trace EB conditioning by knife-cut lesions to the fornix in rabbits: reversal by galantamine.

Previous work in our laboratory demonstrated that galantamine, a cholinesterase inhibitor and weak cholinergic agonist, facilitated classical trace eyeblink conditioning in healthy, young rabbits [Simon, B. B., Knuckley, B., & Powell, D. A. (2004). Galantamine facilitates acquisition of a trace-conditioned eyeblink response in healthy, young rabbits. Learning & Memory, 11(1), 116-122.]. The current study investigated the effects of galantamine (0.0 or 3.0mg/kg) in rabbits sustaining knife-cut lesions to the fimbria-fornix, a major projection pathway connecting the hippocampus to cortical and subcortical brain structures involved in the formation of long-term memories. Two experiments were conducted. Experiment one assessed the effects of knife-cut lesions to the fornix or sham surgeries on trace eyeblink (EB) conditioning. Results indicate that fornix lesions significantly retarded EB conditioning when trace parameters were employed. Experiment 2 assessed whether treatment with galantamine would reverse the deficits caused by fornix damage. Results indicate that 3.0mg/kg GAL reversed trace EB conditioning deficits in animals with fornix knife-cut lesions. These findings suggest that galantamine may provide benefit in the reversal of cognitive dysfunction following certain types of brain damage, especially damage involving hippocampal structures.