Alcohol, psychomotor-stimulants and behaviour: methodological considerations in preclinical models of early-life stress
Abstract
Background In order to assess the risk associated with early-life stress, there has been an increase in the amount of preclinical studies investigating early-life stress. There are many challenges associated with investigating early-life stress in animal models and ensuring that such models are appropriate and clinically relevant. Objectives The purpose of this review is to highlight the methodological considerations in the design of preclinical studies investigating the effects of early-life stress on alcohol and psychomotor-stimulant intake and behaviour. Methods The protocols employed for exploring early-life stress were investigated and summarised. Experimental variables include animals, stress models, and endpoints employed. Results The findings in this paper suggest that there is little consistency among these studies and so the interpretation of these results may not be as clinically relevant as previously thought. Conclusion The standardisation of these simple stress procedures means that results will be more comparable between studies and that results generated will give us a more robust understanding of what can and may be happening in the human and veterinary clinic.
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Animal models of early life stress are already shown to be applicable to aggression and alcohol use.
“Animal models of early life stress are already shown to be applicable to aggression (reviewed in Parise et al. 2025; Takahashi 2025) and alcohol use (reviewed in McDonnell-Dowling and Miczek 2018).”
From Decoding the bidirectional links between alcohol misuse and aggression: toward a unified translational framework (2026) · cites this paper as McDonnell-Dowling and Miczek 2018
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Russell, N. M., Frier, M. D., Bortolato, M., & Mangieri, R. A. (2026) · Psychopharmacology · doi:10.1007/s00213-025-06938-0 · Cited by 3 · see citing works
- Authors
- McDonnell-Dowling, K., & Miczek, K. A.
- Affiliations
- Tufts University (US)
- ORCID
- Miczek, Klaus A.
- Venue
- Psychopharmacology
- Published
- 2018-03-06
- Volume
- 235
- Issue
- 4
- Pages
- 909-933
- ISSN
- 0033-3158 (ISSN-L)
- 1432-2072
- OpenAlex
- W2794100689
- Cited by
- 5
- References
- 16
- Citations by year
- 2025: 1 · 2020: 1 · 2019: 2 · 2018: 1
- FWCI
- 0.11
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Licence
- www.springer.com/tdm (tdm)
- Locations
- Psychopharmacology (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Behavioral Neuroscience › Stress Responses and Cortisol
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cellular and Molecular Neuroscience › Neurotransmitter Receptor Influence on Behavior
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Child Abuse and Trauma
- Keywords
- early life stress, animal models of stress, alcohol consumption, psychostimulants, preclinical study design, methodological consistency, translational relevance
- MeSH terms
- Ethanol, Central Nervous System Stimulants, Animals, Disease Models, Animal, Drug Evaluation, Preclinical, Female, Humans, Stress, Psychological
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