Binge drinking (BD) is characterized by intermittent consumption of large quantities of alcohol in short periods. This pattern of drinking is prevalent among adolescents, and has been associated with undermined learning and memory ability. This study investigates the relationships between a history of BD and the effects of acute exposure to alcohol on learning and memory performance in adolescent men and women. A high, acute dose of alcohol or control refreshment was administered to a sample of 172 adolescent undergraduate students, some of which had a history of BD and others of which had refrained from alcohol consumption. Subsequently, immediate visual memory (IVM) and working memory (WM) was measured according to the Wechsler Memory Scale in females and males with different BAC (Experiment 1) and similar BAC (Experiment 2). In both experiments, IVM was reduced after acute alcohol consumption and there was no significant main effect of Drinking Pattern. Furthermore, an effect of cognitive alcohol tolerance on IVM was observed in women but not in men. WM was not affected by alcohol, but a gender difference was evident in that performance was superior in men than in women. In adolescents, IVM is more sensitive than WM to impairment by alcohol, and women are more vulnerable to the neurotoxic effects of alcohol than men, since the cognitive tolerance effect of alcohol on IVM develops in BD women but not in BD men. These findings emphasize the need to investigate the neurotoxic effects of alcohol in adolescent women. In adolescents, immediate visual memory (IVM) is more sensitive than working memory to impairment by alcohol, and women are more vulnerable to the neurotoxic effects of alcohol than men, because the cognitive tolerance effect of alcohol on IVM develops in binge drinking (BD) women but not in BD men.

We have previously observed impairing effects of social defeat stress (CSDS) on inhibitory avoidance (IA) in mice. Given the similarity between changes produced by social stress in animals and symptoms of certain human psychopathologies such as depression and anxiety, the effects of the antidepressant clomipramine on IA impairment produced by CSDS were evaluated in the present study. Male CD1 mice were randomly assigned to the groups: non-stressed+saline, non-stressed+clomipramine, stressed+saline and stressed+clomipramine. Stressed animals were subjected to daily agonistic encounters (10 min) in the home cage of the aggressor over a 20-day period. Just before each encounter, non-stressed and stressed mice were injected i.p. with saline or clomipramine (10 mg/kg) according to their experimental condition. 24 hours after the last CSDS session, all the mice were tested in a step-through IA task. In the IA training phase, animals were punished by a shock to the paw when they entered the dark compartment of the apparatus. In the IA test phase (one week later) the same procedure took place, but without shock. Complementary measures were obtained by evaluating all the animals in an elevated plus maze (locomotor activity and emotionality) and on a hot plate (analgesia). IA learning was confirmed in all groups except the stressed+saline group, which was the only one that exhibited higher anxiety levels. No variations were observed in either locomotor activity or analgesia. In conclusion, CSDS induces anxiety and impairs emotional memory in mice; the negative effects of CSDS on memory appear to be attenuated by clomipramine, and these detrimental effects do not seem to be secondary to the effects of CSDS on locomotor activity, emotionality or pain sensitivity.