Adolescent Social Isolation Does Not Lead to Persistent Increases in Anxiety‐ Like Behavior or Ethanol Intake in Female Long‐Evans Rats

Abstract

The SI/GH model, which results in robust and enduring increases in anxiety measures and EtOH self-administration in male Long Evans rats, did not result in similar behavioral changes in female rats. These data, and that of others, suggest that adolescent social isolation is not a useful model with which to study neurobiological substrates linking antecedent anxiety and addiction vulnerability in female rats. Given the compelling epidemiological evidence that the relationship between chronic adolescent stress and alcohol addiction is particularly strong in women, there is clearly an urgent need to identify a more effective model with which to study these clinically important relationships in female rodents.