Biology subjects

Lopez-Castro, A.

Publications and source records attributed to Lopez-Castro, A..

4 recordsLinked to original sources

bioRxiv2025

The effect of chronic stress and chronic alcohol intake on behavior, brain structure, and functional connectivity in a rat model

Pathological chronic stress is stress exceeding the organisms ability to cope physiologically, which may act as a risk factor in the onset and relapse of alcohol use disorder. Chronic- restraint stress (CRS) and ethanol intake are independently known to induce changes in brain structure and function, however, their combined effects on neurodevelopment over long periods of time remains largely unexplored. We conducted an in vivo longitudinal rat model with three main goals. 1) to determine if chronic stress increases ethanol intake; 2) to determine the effect of chronic- stress and ethanol intake in behavioral measures, brain structure, and function; and 3) to investigate the effect of sex. This observational study included Wistar rats assigned to four groups: 1) ethanol consumption (EtOH+/CRS-), 2) stress exposure (EtOH-/CRS+), 3) both ethanol and stress exposure (EtOH+/CRS+), and 4) control group (EtOH-/CRS-). Our results showed that chronic stress did not affect ethanol intake but led to reduced body weight gain, elevated corticosterone levels, and impaired recognition memory. Structural MRI revealed that both exposures produced additive brain volume changes in regions such as the olfactory bulb, orbitofrontal cortex, caudate-putamen, hippocampus, and cerebellum. Functional connectivity analysis using network-based statistics identified disrupted cortical-subcortical connections. Results found here were sex-dependent in terms of volumetric changes (higher effects on males) and functional connectivity (higher effects on females). Findings suggest sex-dependent mechanisms where both chronic- ethanol intake and stress affect brain plasticity during neurodevelopment. Understanding these region-specific vulnerabilities is crucial for addressing alcohol use disorders and stress-related neuropathology. O_FIG O_LINKSMALLFIG WIDTH=200 HEIGHT=173 SRC="FIGDIR/small/638122v1_ufig1.gif" ALT="Figure 1"> View larger version (50K): org.highwire.dtl.DTLVardef@27094dorg.highwire.dtl.DTLVardef@d3b8faorg.highwire.dtl.DTLVardef@155deeorg.highwire.dtl.DTLVardef@c9bb7b_HPS_FORMAT_FIGEXP M_FIG O_FLOATNOGraphical abstractC_FLOATNO Created with bioRender C_FIG

neuroscience↗

bioRxiv2024

Improved classification of alcohol intake groups in the Intermittent-Access Two-Bottle choice rat model using a latent class linear mixed model

Alcohol use disorder (AUD) is a major public health problem in which preclinical models allow the study of AUD development, comorbidities and possible new treatments. The intermittent access two-bottle choice (IA2BC) model is a validated preclinical model for studying alcohol intake patterns similar to those present in AUD in human clinical studies. Typically, the mean/median of overall alcohol intake or the last drinking sessions is used as a threshold to divide groups of animals into high or low alcohol consumers. However, it would be more statistically valuable to stratify the groups using the full consumption data from all drinking sessions. In this study, we aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of using the time series data of all drinking sessions to stratify the population into high or low alcohol consumption groups, using a latent class linear mixed model (LCLMM). We compared LCLMM to traditional classification methods: percentiles, k-means clustering, and hierarchical clustering, and used simulations to compare accuracy between methods. Our results demonstrated that LCLMM outperforms other approaches, achieving superior accuracy (0.94) in identifying consumption patterns. By considering the entire trajectory of alcohol intake, LCLMM provides a more robust and nuanced characterization of high and low alcohol consumers. We advocate for the adoption of longitudinal statistical models in substance use disorder research, both in human studies and preclinical investigations, as they hold promise for enhancing population stratification and refining treatment strategies.

neuroscience↗

bioRxiv2024

A bibliometric analysis of neurobiological and behavioraldisturbances of cafeteria diet interventions

Obesity is a global epidemic mainly caused by the overconsumption of western diets, high in fat and sugars. Cafeteria diet administered to rodents is an effective model of the metabolic, neurobiological, and behavioral disturbances caused by the over consumption of western diet in humans. However, this is still an emerging research field. To provide information about the past, present and future of the research field, this study aims to explore the research field of cafeteria diet and behavior through bibliometric analysis. Original articles on cafeteria diet and behavior were obtained from Pubmed, Scopus and Web of Science databases from 2013 to Octuber 30, 2023. The R packages litsearchr, bibliometrix, sjrdata and mblm were used for descriptive and inferential statistics. Linear regression, concept mapping and trend analysis were used for relationship analysis. 85 articles included from 457 authors, 20 countries and 56 institutions were included. 46 from Pubmed, 12 from Scopus and 27 from Web of Science. The 25 topmost productive authors were from Spain, Brazil, Australia, Switzerland, and USA. 15 authors had an h-index higher than 3. The institution with the largest production of articles is the University of South Wales with 10 articles. A simple linear regression could not establish significance between the relationship between the impact factor and the number of citations received. In addition, a conceptual structure map was performed, and 5 clusters were found. Finally, by a bi-factor analysis, a trend topic established that anxiety is the term currently in trend and since 2017 in the cafeteria diet and behavior research field. The present study explores the performance of authors, countries, institutions, and journals on classical measures of scientific parameters. This helped to model multiple correspondence and trend analyses that provide a reliable source of information to direct research on cafeteria diet interventions.

animal behavior and cognition↗

bioRxiv2022

Focal electrical stimulation on an alcohol disorder model using MRI-compatible chronic neural monopolar carbon fiber electrodes.

Neuromodulation interventions, such as Deep Brain Stimulation (DBS) and repeated transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS), are proposed as possible new complementary therapies to treat substance use disorders (SUD) such as alcohol use disorder (AUD). It is hypothesized that neuromodulation may induce neural plasticity in the reward and frontostriatal systems via electrical field induction, possibly reducing symptoms. Preclinical self-administration rodent models of AUD may help us gain insight into the effects of neuromodulation therapies on different pathology, as well as the neural mechanisms behind the positive effects. DBS, or any type of brain stimulation using intracranial electrodes in rodents, would benefit from the use of MRI to study the longitudinal effects and mechanisms of stimulation as well as novel targets, as it is a non-invasive technique that allows the analysis of structural and functional changes in the brain. To do this, there is a need for MRI-compatible electrodes that allow for MRI acquisition with minimal distortion of the magnetic field. In this protocol, we present a method for the construction and surgery of chronically implantable monopolar carbon electrodes for use in rats. Unlike conventional electrodes, carbon electrodes are resistant to high temperatures, flexible, and generate fewer artifacts in MRI compared to conventional ones. We validated its use by using a focal electrical stimulation high-frequency (20 Hz) protocol that lasted ~10 sessions. We propose that this technique can also be used for the research of the neurophysiological bases of the neuromodulatory treatment in other preclinical substance use disorders (SUD) models.

neuroscience↗