Modulació per neuroesteroïdes de la funció colinèrgica i regulació fàrmaco-dinàmica del receptor nicotínic, en rates alcohòliques: efectes de l'aprenentatge

In this research, pregnenolone sulfate and allopregnanolone, two neurosteroids with respectively nootropic or non-nootropic profiles will be administered into the hippocampus, in order to study their effects on associative learning, as well as their interaction with the intrahippocampal administration of nicotine studied in previous experiments. Moreover, the chronic alcoholism effects on inhibitory learning controlled by temporal interoceptive stimuli will be studied in intoxicated, withdrawn and relapsed subjects. In an equivalent paradigm of intoxication, withdrawal and relapse, blood ethanol levels and nicotinic receptor binding studies will be performed, and these results will be related to those obtained from learning and alcohol consumption. This work will be performed in non-selected Wistar rats, and it will be important to point out the relevance of the cholinergic pathways, classically involved in neurodegenerative diseases, in drug addiction, specially to alcohol. Finally, this work can be relevant in order to evaluate the validity of nootropics in pharmacological treatments of drug addiction