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Alcohol Metabolism and Epigenetics Changes
The concept that only DNA and proteins can impact disease states is an oversimplification. It does not take into account different metabolic pathways in which key metabolites bind to transcription factors and alter gene expression patterns that contribute to the observable characteristics (the phenotype) of a given disease. Simple metabolites dictate the actions of specific transcription factors...
Alcohol-Endocannabinoid Interactions: Implications for Addiction-Related Behavioral Processes
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...
Prenatal alcohol exposure (PAE) is a necessary cause of fetal alcohol spectrum disorders (FASD), a group of alcohol-related conditions characterized by neurodevelopmental problems. Although PAE is associated with many adverse physical, neurodevelopmental, and social outcomes, the most commonly studied are neurodevelopmental—primarily behavioral and cognitive—outcomes. Associations...
Epigenetic Control of Gene Expression in the Alcoholic Brain
Whether a specific gene is transcribed or repressed is determined by the specific status (i.e., conformational state) of the complex of chromosomal DNA and proteins (i.e., the chromatin) and by the recruitment of specific proteins (i.e., transcription factors) to regulatory sites on the DNA (Copeland et al. 2010). Chromatin states can change as a result of enzyme-mediated covalent modifications of...
The Burden of Alcohol Use: Focus on Children and Preadolescents
The burden of alcohol use usually is expressed as a function of the contribution of alcohol use in a population to morbidity and mortality in that population (Rehm et al. 2010). It is difficult to calculate the burden of alcohol use for middle-school and high-school adolescents (see Patrick and Schulembery, p. 193 in this issue) and nearly impossible to do so for children and preadolescents. There...
Alcohol Use Patterns Among Urban and Rural Residents: Demographic and Social Influences
Geographic location can be an important factor in determining a person’s level of risk for alcohol-related problems. Certain factors associated with living in an urban or rural area may increase risk, while others may be protective. For example, the availability of alcohol, norms for acceptable drinking behaviors, demographic characteristics, and economic factors all vary with respect to...
Alcohol consumption during pregnancy can interfere with both embryonic and fetal development, producing a wide range of outcomes that fall under the rubric of fetal alcohol spectrum disorders (FASD). FASD is the nondiagnostic umbrella term used to refer to the full range of effects that can occur following prenatal alcohol exposure. Such exposure can produce a variety of effects, including...
Stress and Alcohol: Epidemiologic Evidence
Exposure to varying forms of stress is an integral life experience that can provoke a variety of reactions. In research on alcohol, drug, and psychiatric disorders, the term “stress” often is understood to indicate any experience denoting adversity (Dohrenwend 2000). Stress exposures consist of external stimuli that are threatening or harmful; elicit fear, anxiety, anger, excitement, and/or...
Stress, Epigenetics, and Alcoholism
Alcoholism is a complex disorder characterized by compulsive alcohol seeking and consumption that also is impacted by related psychiatric states, such as anxiety (Koob 2003; Pandey 2003). Both environmental and genetic factors influence alcohol drinking patterns and may increase susceptibility to the development of alcohol addiction (Cloninger 1987; Crabbe 2002). The presence or development of...
Effects of Alcohol Dependence and Withdrawal on Stress Responsiveness and Alcohol Consumption
Although stress is known to be an important contributing factor to alcohol abuse and alcoholism, the interaction between stress and alcohol drinking behavior, as well as the mechanisms underlying this interaction in the context of dependence are complex and not well understood. On the one hand, alcohol is an effective anxiety-reducing agent (i.e., anxiolytic). Hence, motivation for drinking may be...
