Knowledge on the biological underpinnings mediating the impact of ELS on alcohol misuse is scarce [22, 39]. Disrupted dam-pup interactions during the first postnatal weeks before weaning have been widely advocated as a maladaptive developmental pathway to unfavorable neurobiological and behavioral outcomes [23]. Maternal separation in early life and intermittent voluntary alcohol drinking in young adulthood, two experimental paradigms with high face and construct validity, were herein employed to explore their shaping influence on Fkbp5 gene expression. To date, few studies investigated the relationship between Fkbp5 and alcohol drinking and none the interaction with ELS. Intraperitoneal administration of alcohol was shown to increase Fkbp5 expression in the murine striatum putamen and Acb [40], whereas higher withdrawal-like symptoms were displayed by Fkbp5 knock-out compared to wild-type mice [26].
