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Updated: Dec 28, 2025
Chronic Intermittent Ethanol Vapor Exposure Paired with Two-Bottle Choice to Model Alcohol Use Disorder
Published on: June 23, 2023
Effects of quetiapine on behavioral changes and expression of myelin proteins in a chronic alcohol dependence rat
Jinhong Han1, Guodong Wang2, Meng Liu3
1Henan Key Laboratory of Biological Psychiatry, The Second Affiliated Hospital of Xinxiang Medical University, Xinxiang, Henan, PR China; Department of Basic Medicine, Xinxiang Medical University, Xinxiang, Henan, PR China.
Background:
As an atypical antipsychotic drug, quetiapine had been approved for bipolar disorder and for adjunctive therapy in major depressive disorder and schizophrenia. Recently quetiapine has been suggested to be a promising pharmacotherapy for alcohol dependence. This study was performed to determine the effects of quetiapine in rats chronically exposed to ethanol.
Methods:
Rats were exposed to ethanol solution (10 %; v/v) for 6 weeks. Saline or one of three doses of quetiapine (10, 20 or 40 mg/kg/day) was given by oral gavage while ethanol exposure for the next 14 weeks. Performance of learning and memory and withdrawal signs were evaluated. Then immunohistochemistry, western blot, quantitative real-time-PCR and transmission electron microscopy were performed to determine the effects of quetiapine on alterations of brain white matter markers (myelin basic protein, MBP; proteolipid protein, PLP) and morphology caused by chronic ethanol exposure.
Results:
Quetiapine treatment significantly alleviated withdrawal signs in the ethanol exposed rats. Chronic ethanol exposure reduced Y-type electric maze scores and the protein/mRNA expression levels of MBP and PLP in the prefrontal cortex and hippocampus, and these effects were reversed by quetiapine treatment. Similar ultrastructure morphological changes were observed.
Conclusions:
Chronic quetiapine treatment alleviated the damage induced by chronic ethanol exposure with regard to learning and memory ability and to brain white matter. Thus, quetiapine appears to be a potentially promising pharmacotherapy for the treatment of alcohol use disorder.
