Exposure and Loss of Environmental Enrichment Mediates Ethanol Consumption in Adolescent Female Rats

Abstract

Alcohol use among adolescent females has significantly increased in the United States with young women drinking alcohol at the same rate as young men. One potential treatment strategy that could help sustain alcohol abstinence is Environmental Enrichment (EE). Environmental enrichment is a process concerning the stimulation of the brain by one’s physical and social surrounding, which promotes non-drug reinforcement alternatives (e.g. voluntary exercise) supporting drug abstinence. Thus, the primary focus of this study was to investigate the effect of EE on ethanol (ETOH) abstinence in adolescent female rats. All adolescent female rats, starting on postnatal day 30, had 24-h access to 2%, then 4%, and then 6% ethanol concentrations. At the end of the four weeks, the environmental conditions were switched (EE NEE and NEE EE) and the 6% ethanol measure was repeated. We found that EE significantly reduced ethanol consumption for adolescent female rats compared to controls. Further, the removal of EE opportunities resulted in a significant increase in ethanol consumption. Collectively, the results suggest that access to enriched life conditions are important in facilitating alcohol abstinence in adolescent female rats.