Miriam B. Virgolini, Mara S. Mattalloni, Paula A. Albrecht, Romina Deza-Ponzio, Liliana M. Cancela
Abstract
This review article provides evidence of the impact of the environmental contaminant lead (Pb) on the pattern of the motivational effects of ethanol (EtOH). To find a mechanism that explains this interaction, the focus of this review article is on central EtOH metabolism and the participating enzymes, as key factors in the modulation of brain acetaldehyde (ACD) accumulation and resulting effect on EtOH intake. Catalase (CAT) seems a good candidate for the shared mechanism between Pb and EtOH due to both its antioxidant and its brain EtOH-metabolizing properties. CAT overactivation was reported to increase EtOH consumption, while CAT blockade reduced it, and both scenarios were modified by Pb exposure, probably as the result of elevated brain and blood CAT activity. Likewise, the motivational effects of EtOH were enhanced when brain ACD metabolism was prevented by ALDH2 inhibition, even in the Pb animals that evidenced reduced brain ALDH2 activity after chronic EtOH intake. Overall, these results suggest that brain EtOH metabolizing enzymes are modulated by Pb exposure with resultant central ACD accumulation and a prevalence of the reinforcing effects of the metabolite in brain against the aversive peripheral ACD accumulation. They also support the idea that early exposure to an environmental contaminant, even at low doses, predisposes at a later age to differential reactivity to challenging events, increasing, in this case, vulnerability to acquiring addictive behaviors, including excessive EtOH intake.
Pharmacology, Toxicology and Pharmaceutical Science
3
19%
Psychology
3
19%
Agricultural and Biological Sciences
2
13%
Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology
2
13%
Economics, Econometrics and Finance
1
6%
Other
1
6%
Unknown
4
25%
Attention Score in Context
Attention Score in Context
This research output has an Altmetric Attention Score of 2. This is our high-level measure of the quality and quantity of online attention that it has received. This Attention Score, as well as the ranking and number of research outputs shown below, was calculated when the research output was last mentioned on 31 May 2017.
All research outputs
#15,412,384
of 22,977,819 outputs
Outputs from Frontiers in Behavioral Neuroscience
#2,213
of 3,197 outputs
Outputs of similar age
#196,224
of 313,702 outputs
Outputs of similar age from Frontiers in Behavioral Neuroscience
#55
of 68 outputs
Altmetric has tracked 22,977,819 research outputs across all sources so far. This one is in the 32nd percentile – i.e., 32% of other outputs scored the same or lower than it.
So far Altmetric has tracked 3,197 research outputs from this source. They typically receive a lot more attention than average, with a mean Attention Score of 11.3. This one is in the 30th percentile – i.e., 30% of its peers scored the same or lower than it.
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We're also able to compare this research output to 68 others from the same source and published within six weeks on either side of this one. This one is in the 19th percentile – i.e., 19% of its contemporaries scored the same or lower than it.
