Effects of ampicillin on cystine/glutamate antiporter and glutamate transporter 1 isoforms as well as ethanol drinking in male P rats

• Ampicillin upregulated xCT and GLT-1 isoforms in both NAc and PFC.
• Ampicillin reduced ethanol intake in male P rats.
• GLAST expression is not changed following treatment with ampicillin.

Evidence demonstrated that glial cells, mainly astrocytes, regulate glutamate uptake through several glutamate transporters. Among these glutamate transporters, glutamate transporter 1 (GLT-1; its human homolog is excitatory amino acid transporter-2) is responsible for the majority of glutamate uptake. Cystine-glutamate antiporter (xCT) is another glial protein critical in regulating glutamate transmission. Several studies from our laboratory demonstrated that attenuation of ethanol intkae was associated in part with upregulation of xCT and GLT-1 expression suggesting the important role of these transporters in the treatment of ethanol dependence. We found recently that β-lactam antibiotic, ampicillin, upregulated GLT-1 expression in the prefrontal cortex (PFC) and nucleus accumbens (NAc) and consequently reduced ethanol intake in alcohol-preferring (P) rats. In this study, we investigated the effects of ampicillin on the expression of xCT and GLT-1 isoforms (GLT-1a and GLT-1b) as well as on GLAST expression. We found that ampicillin reduced ethanol intake as compared to the saline (control)-treated group. In addition, we found that ampicillin induced upregulation of xCT, GLT-1a, and GLT-1b expression in both the PFC and NAc, but had no effect on GLAST expression. Our findings provide significant role of ampicillin on upregulating xCT and GLT-1 isoforms expression, might be suggested as possible targets for the attenuation of ethanol consumption.