Schedule of Events | Symposia

Immune Biomarkers Associated with Ethanol Consumption in Monkeys and Mice

Poster Session B - Sunday, March 30, 2025, 8:00 – 10:00 am EDT, Back Bay Ballroom/Republic Ballroom

Anna Rakowski¹ (arakowsk@macalester.edu), Jean Pateman¹, Petar Elenkov¹, Naomi Singer¹, Elizabeth McNeill², Allison Weiss³, Phillip Rivera¹; ¹Macalester College, ²Iowa State University, ³Oregon National Primate Research Center

Drug exposure induces inflammation based on drug type and dosage, impacting the degree of an immune response. Previously published studies suggest that ethanol (EtOH) exposure through self-administration potentially establishes rewarding drug effects and addiction-like behaviors across multiple species, with a spectrum of low to high responding individuals. However, it is unknown what specific components of the immune system are the most influential in EtOH susceptibility. Therefore, this study compares peripheral biomarkers across multiple species (mice and monkeys) examining low and high responders to EtOH self-administration in order to examine the role of immune signaling. As both species exhibit similar addiction-like behaviors, it is hypothesized that similar immune indicators of previous alcohol exposure will be present in an immune signature across species. Mice were subjected to drinking in the dark (DID), a four day paradigm that exposes them to alcohol and provides an opportunity to binge, followed by ethanol conditioned place preference (eCPP), an eight day paradigm that establishes a reward-context association, a proxy to examine reward seeking behavior. Total protein was extracted from mice and monkey blood samples, and the presence of protein in blood serum was confirmed using the automated sandwich ELISA, Ella. Concentrations of specific immune proteins were then compared across species and correlated with their initial addiction-like behaviors. This data has the potential to identify biomarkers that are essential for the process of addiction, filling in the gap of knowledge linking the immune system to reward learning.

Topic Area: LONG-TERM MEMORY: Skill Learning