Honors Program
Date of this Version
2022
Document Type
Thesis
Citation
Jolton, J. 2022. Sex Differences in Lateral Hypothalamic Extracellular Glucose Concentrations During Cumulative Dosing of Methamphetamine in Rats. Undergraduate Honors Thesis. University of Nebraska-Lincoln.
Abstract
The present study experimentally investigated sex differences in lateral hypothalamic glucose concentrations following cumulative dosing of methamphetamine. Male (n=17) and female (n=11) rats were surgically implanted with enzyme-based glucose biosensors in the lateral hypothalamus. Rats then received a saline injection followed by four methamphetamine doses (0.025 mg/kg, 0.05 mg/kg, 0.1 mg/kg, and 0.2 mg/kg) spaced 55 minutes apart. We found that while there was a general decrease in glucose baseline throughout the study for both sexes, the magnitude of the decrease was significantly greater in females compared to males. On a rapid timescale, fixed sex effects existed at the lower two doses such that the change in glucose levels from baseline following drug administration were significantly different. Additionally, there was a significant sex difference in the rate of change of glucose concentrations at 0.05 mg/kg. Phasic glucose increases also presented at the timescale. At the slow-change timescale, there were fixed sex effects at 0.025 mg/kg and 0.2 mg/kg. Significant differences between sexes in rate of change from baseline also was present at all doses except 0.05 mg/kg at the slow-change timescale. Taken together, this data suggests that female rats show a greater decrease in baseline with cumulative meth dosing. Phasic changes at the rapid timescale suggest possible peripheral effects of methamphetamine that are routed through the lateral hypothalamus as sensory stimuli. Finally, the findings at the rapid timescale suggest that female rats are more sensitive than males at lower doses of methamphetamine.
Comments
Part of a larger publication: Contrasting dose-dependent effects of acute intravenous methamphetamine on lateral hypothalamic extracellular glucose dynamics in male and female rats (Kuebler et al., expected publication 2022).
Copyright Joshua Jolton 2022.
A free public access full-text copy of this thesis has been placed at https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/honorstheses/476