Adult neurogenesis is a mechanism of neuronal plasticity (Alvarez-Buylla & Lim, 2004; Curtis et al. 2007; Eriksson et al. 1998; Gould, 2007). A population of neural precursors is found in the dentate gyrus subgranular zone (SGZ). Neurogenesis in this region has been implicated in regulation of stress reactivity, and is itself suppressed by stress (Gould et al. 1997; Mirescu & Gould, 2006). Similar to stress, chronic alcohol self-administration by mice reduces hippocampal neurogenesis and induces depression-like behaviour, consequences that are reversed by the antidepressant fluoxetine (Stevenson et al. 2009). However, effects of alcohol on hippocampal neurogenesis are complex, and different effects have been reported depending on species, dose, pattern of intake and time following brain exposure (Aberg et al. 2005; Nixon, 2006; Nixon & Crews, 2004). The other major source of neuronal progenitors in the adult central nervous system is the forebrain subventricular zone (SVZ). Both in rodents and humans, cells that originate from progenitors in the SVZ migrate to become GABAergic and dopaminergic neurons in the olfactory bulb, where they contribute to learning, associating, and discriminating odours (Curtis et
