This study compared white matter integrity between adolescents with binge alcohol consumption relative to controls matched on age, gender, verbal IQ, ethnicity, and socioeconomic status. Despite demographic similarities, widespread reductions in FA were observed in heavy episodic drinkers, suggesting the possibility of compromised white matter integrity in major fiber tract pathways in frontal (including the corpus callosum genu and body), cerebellar, temporal, and parietal regions. These findings extend previous reports of FA diminutions observed in adults both diffusely throughout white matter (Pfefferbaum et al., 2006b), and specifically in the corpus callosum (Harris et al., 2008; Pfefferbaum and Sullivan, 2005; Pfefferbaum et al., 2006a; Schulte et al., 2005) of individuals with alcohol use disorders, yet this is the first report to describe reduced FA in drinkers as early as mid-adolescence and in youth who do not meet criteria for alcohol abuse or dependence.
