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Moderate Prenatal Alcohol Exposure and Quantification of Social Behavior in Adult Rats
Published on: December 14, 2014
The effect of alcohol on testosterone concentrations in alcohol-preferring and non-preferring rat lines
Susanna J Apter1, C J Peter Eriksson
1Department of Mental Health and Alcohol Research, National Public Health Institute, Helsinki, Finland.
Background:
Previous studies have reported associations between human alcohol drinking and testosterone levels.
Methods:
In this study we investigated serum testosterone concentrations without and under the influence of alcohol in alcohol-preferring (AA) and nonpreferring (ANA) rat lines. Animals were tested in both mornings and afternoons and the alcohol doses were 0.75 and 1.50 g/kg.
Results:
Higher basal serum testosterone levels were detected in the AA rats compared with the ANA rats in both mornings (152%, p = 0.028) and afternoons (75%, p = 0.035). The high alcohol dose decreased the testosterone concentrations of both the AA and the ANA rats (p = 0.001-0.01). The low dose, however, decreased testosterone concentrations only in the ANA line (line difference in the morning: p = 0.027; in the afternoon p = 0.000).
Conclusion:
The present results support previous indications of a positive association between testosterone and alcohol drinking. Furthermore, the present results, together with earlier reports on the AA and ANA rats, introduce the possibility of a connection between this association and the hypothalamic opiate system, which is also involved in the feedback regulation of testosterone synthesis.
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