Do Seizures and Epilepsy Increase Vulnerability to Develop Alcohol Use Disorder?

There is increasing evidence to suggest the prevalence of alcohol use disorder is increased in individuals with epilepsy. It is not clear however what underlies this relationship. While alcohol abuse and withdrawal are known to predispose to seizures, individuals with epilepsy often have behavioural characteristics, for example, a tendency for impulsive behaviour (impulsivity), depression and anxiety, which are known risk factors for the development of alcohol use disorder. We hypothesise there may be shared biological risk factors underlying both epilepsy and alcohol use disorder. To investigate this relationship we plan to examine the behavioural profile of rats vulnerable to the development of epilepsy, the genetic absence epilepsy rats from Strasbourg (GAERS) and fast kindling rats (FAST) and determine if they demonstrate differences in behaviours known to predict addiction vulnerability and alcohol drinking behaviour compared to non-epileptic strains. It is hoped these strains of rats may provide a novel model to investigate the biological and behavioural basis of vulnerability to alcohol use disorder.