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Molecular Physiology & Biophysics

Adolescent intermittent alcohol exposure: persistence of structural and functional hippocampal abnormalities into adulthood.

AUTHORS

Risher ML , Fleming RL , Risher WC , Miller KM , Klein RC , Wills T , Acheson SK , Moore SD , Wilson WA , Eroglu C , Swartzwelder HS , . Alcoholism, clinical and experimental research. 2015 6 ; 39(6). 989-97

ABSTRACT

Human adolescence is a crucial stage of neurological development during which ethanol (EtOH) consumption is often at its highest. Alcohol abuse during adolescence may render individuals at heightened risk for subsequent alcohol abuse disorders, cognitive dysfunction, or other neurological impairments by irreversibly altering long-term brain function. To test this possibility, we modeled adolescent alcohol abuse (i.e., intermittent EtOH exposure during adolescence [AIE]) in rats to determine whether adolescent exposure to alcohol leads to long-term structural and functional changes that are manifested in adult neuronal circuitry.

Human adolescence is a crucial stage of neurological development during which ethanol (EtOH) consumption is often at its highest. Alcohol abuse during adolescence may render individuals at heightened risk for subsequent alcohol abuse disorders, cognitive dysfunction, or other neurological impairments by irreversibly altering long-term brain function. To test this possibility, we modeled adolescent alcohol abuse (i.e., intermittent EtOH exposure during adolescence [AIE]) in rats to determine whether adolescent exposure to alcohol leads to long-term structural and functional changes that are manifested in adult neuronal circuitry.

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