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  • Title: Alcohol exposure during the developmental period induces beta-endorphin neuronal death and causes alteration in the opioid control of stress axis function.
    Author: Sarkar DK, Kuhn P, Marano J, Chen C, Boyadjieva N.
    Journal: Endocrinology; 2007 Jun; 148(6):2828-34. PubMed ID: 17347308.
    Abstract:
    Proopiomelanocortin-producing neurons in the arcuate nucleus of the hypothalamus secrete beta-endorphin (beta-EP), which controls varieties of body functions including the feedback regulation of the CRH neuronal activity in the paraventricular nucleus of the hypothalamus. Whether ethanol exposure in developing rats induces beta-EP neuronal death and alters their influence on CRH neurons in vivo has not been determined. We report here that binge-like ethanol exposures in newborn rats increased the number of apoptotic beta-EP neurons in the arcuate nucleus of the hypothalamus. We also found that immediately after ethanol treatments there was a significant reduction in the expression of proopiomelanocortin and adenylyl cyclases mRNA and an increased expression of several TGF-beta1-linked apoptotic genes in beta-EP neurons isolated by laser-captured microdissection from arcuate nuclei of young rats. Several weeks after the ethanol treatment, we detected a reduction in the number of beta-EP neuronal perikarya in arcuate nuclei and in the number of beta-EP neuronal terminals in paraventricular nuclei of the hypothalamus in the treated rats. Additionally, these rats showed increased response of the hypothalamic CRH mRNA to the lipopolysaccharide challenge. The ethanol-treated animals also showed incompetent ability to respond to exogenous beta-EP to alter the lipopolysaccharide-induced CRH mRNA levels. These data suggest that ethanol exposure during the developmental period causes beta-EP neuronal death by cellular mechanisms involving the suppression of cyclic AMP production and activation of TGF-beta1-linked apoptotic signaling and produces long-term structural and functional deficiency of beta-EP neurons in the hypothalamus.
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