Advances in human neuroimaging have expanded our ability to understand the functioning of the brain, with particular recent advances fostering our analytic capacity to examine networks between the brain’s nerve cells (i.e., neurons) and neuroconnectivity (i.e., neural networks). Relevant to the field of alcoholism, several researchers recently have applied these strategies to groups at genetic...
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Discovering Genes Involved in Alcohol Dependence and Other Alcohol Responses
A host of biological (i.e., genetic) and environmental factors interact throughout the addictive process to influence alcohol use and abuse. These processes are accompanied by a number of behavioral and neural events that include, but are not limited to, changes in the motivational effects of ethanol (both rewarding and aversive), tolerance to some effects of ethanol, and withdrawal when ethanol...
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Binge drinking thresholds have long been set at four or more drinks for women and five or more drinks for men over the course of a few hours. However, a significant number of people regularly consume much higher amounts of alcohol: double or even triple the standard binge drinking threshold. Researchers have begun to distinguish between typical binge drinking and this kind of “high-intensity...
Sex Differences in the Neurobiology of Alcohol Use Disorder
Addiction is a chronic relapsing disorder characterized by continued substance misuse despite harmful consequences. Alcohol use disorder (AUD) is specific to the maladaptive consumption of alcohol.
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...
Long-lasting changes in synaptic function (i.e., synaptic plasticity) have long been thought to contribute to information storage in the nervous system (Kandel et al. 2014; Lovinger 2010). Studies combining behavioral and physiological analyses offer strong evidence supporting this hypothesis (Kandel et al. 2014; Ramirez et al. 2014). On the one hand, this plasticity allows the organism to adapt...
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...
Focus On: Ethnicity and the Social and Health Harms From Drinking
Research has shown differential social and health effects from alcohol use across U.S. ethnic groups, including Whites, Blacks, Hispanics, Asians, and Native Americans. The relationship of ethnicity to alcohol-related social and health harms partially is attributed to the different rates and patterns of drinking across ethnicities. Some ethnic groups have higher rates of alcohol consumption...
Gender Differences in the Epidemiology of Alcohol Use and Related Harms in the United States
Over the past century, differences in alcohol use and related harms between males and females in the United States have diminished considerably. In general, males still consume more alcohol and experience and cause more alcohol-related injuries and deaths than females do, but the gaps are narrowing. Among adolescents and emerging adults, gaps in drinking have narrowed primarily because alcohol use...