117— The Effects of Comorbid Alcohol and Cocaine Use on a Cognitive Maze Task

In U.S., 1 out of 4 adults reported binge drinking in the past month, a prevalence that increases to over 50% in college populations. Binge drinking is a common precursor for alcohol use disorder, and risk of polydrug use also increases.Cocaine is frequently used in combination with alcohol. Little is known about the history of binge drinking and comorbid cocaine influence on memory. We developed a mouse model of alcohol and cocaine co-use to investigate how comorbidity influences performance on a working memory task. We ran two groups of mice that differed in their history of alcohol use. Group 1 consisted of C57BL6/J male mice that were allowed to drink for 4 weeks (2hrs/day, 4x/week) and then were tested on the Barnes Maze (working memory task). After 1 more week of drinking, mice were again assessed for working memory following an injection of cocaine (20mg/kg, I.P.). Group 2 consisted of C57BL6/J male mice that did not drink alcohol and were assessed in the working memory task. After 1 week, they were retested in the task following an injection of cocaine. Comparisons were made across groups for differences in cognitive abilities following cocaine use that result from the co-use of alcohol.