Neurocognitive endophenotypes for hazardous alcohol use

During late adolescence and early adulthood frontal to subcortical neural connectivity continues to mature. Data from animal models suggest that during this developmental window, these circuits are acutely sensitive to alcohol insult, resulting in neurocognitive deficits that persist into adulthood. Despite this knowledge, relatively little is yet know about the neurocognitive abnormalities associated with hazardous alcohol use in adolescence. To address this issue, we evaluated resting state functional connectivity of mesocortical circuitry in a sample of healthy adults (ages 18-40) that did not meet DSM criteria for an alcohol use disorder, but with a wide range of alcohol use, from minimal to hazardous.

Source: Alcohol - May 1, 2017 Category: Addiction Authors: T.H. McKim, G. Guo, S. Lane, M.H. Parrish, C.T. Smith, S.H. Oppler, M. Menceloglu, K. Gates, D.L. Robinson, C.A. Boettiger Source Type: research