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Alcohol’s Negative Emotional Side: The Role of Stress Neurobiology in Alcohol Use Disorder

Introduction

The word “alcohol” often conjures up positive feelings and associations with fun, socializing, relaxing, and partying. Yet there is another side to drinking alcohol, especially with risky, hazardous levels of consumption. This side is associated with distress and may include anxiety, loneliness, pain, and depressive symptoms.1 This has been labeled the “dark side,” or “negative...

Looking Back, Looking Forward: Current Medications and Innovative Potential Medications to Treat Alcohol Use Disorder

Introduction

According to national surveys, more than 85% of U.S. adults have consumed alcohol at some point in their lifetime, and about 70% did so in the last year.1 Most individuals drink responsibly and without adverse effects. However, a substantial proportion of people misuse alcohol.1,2 Drinking patterns associated with alcohol misuse include binge drinking, heavy drinking, and high...

Alcohol-Endocannabinoid Interactions: Implications for Addiction-Related Behavioral Processes

Introduction

Endogenous cannabinoids, or endocannabinoids (eCBs), are bioactive lipid molecules that modulate signaling activity of several physiological processes involved in pain, appetite, energy balance, stress/anxiety, immune signaling, and learning and memory. Although understanding of the eCB system has grown in complexity since its discovery by Raphael Mechoulam, it is now widely known that...

Alcohol and the Adolescent Brain: What We’ve Learned and Where the Data Are Taking Us

Introduction

The past 50 years of research supported by the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA) have resulted in an accumulation of invaluable data to address the multifaceted problems surrounding underage drinking. Youth use of alcohol remains a pervasive social and public health concern in the United States and a leading cause of disability and mortality during adolescence...

Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders: Awareness to Insight in Just 50 Years

Introduction

The establishment of the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA) in 1971 was bracketed by three seminal papers that laid the groundwork for the field of fetal alcohol spectrum disorders (FASD) research. In 1968, Lemoine et al.1 described children with birth defects and neurodevelopmental disorders associated with prenatal alcohol exposure (PAE). This French-language...

The Synaptic Interactions of Alcohol and the Endogenous Cannabinoid System

Introduction

Alcohol use disorder (AUD) is a chronic, relapsing brain disorder, characterized by a compromised ability to control alcohol use despite adverse occupational, social, or health consequences. Results from a 2019 National Survey on Drug Use and Health found that 5% of individuals over age 12 had AUD, affecting 14.5 million people in the United States. Alcohol and cannabis products are a...

AUD Risk, Diagnoses, and Course in a Prospective Study Across Two Generations: Implications for Prevention

Introduction

A large proportion of the population consume alcoholic beverages at some time in their lives. For most people, alcohol consumption is low to moderate and is not associated with harmful physiological, psychological, or social outcomes. However, for a substantial number of individuals, alcohol consumption increases over time; leads to the development of tolerance and alcohol-related life...

Hepatic Cannabinoid Signaling in the Regulation of Alcohol-Associated Liver Disease

Introduction

The prevalence of alcohol use disorder has been steadily rising around the world in recent years, and reducing the burden of alcohol-associated liver disease (ALD) caused by chronic alcohol consumption has become one of the most important global health issues.1,2 Excessive alcohol drinking (more than 40 g of pure alcohol per day) is closely associated with increased risk of all-cause...

Alcohol and Cannabis Use and the Developing Brain

Introduction

Adolescence is marked by significant social, emotional, cognitive, and physical changes, as individuals transition from childhood to adulthood. Although the exact definition of adolescence tends to vary, recent findings regarding adolescent development and growth include individuals between the ages of 10 and 24.1 Consistent with this defined age range, the human brain continues to...

Natural Recovery by the Liver and Other Organs After Chronic Alcohol Use

Introduction

A vast body of evidence from human studies and animal research clearly indicates that chronic, heavy alcohol consumption causes structural damage and/or disrupts normal organ function in virtually every tissue of the body. In heavy consumers of alcohol, the liver is especially susceptible to alcohol-induced injury.1,2 Additionally, several other organs—including the gastrointestinal...