in vitro and in vivo animal models, as well as postmortem human brain tissue have laid the groundwork for most of the theories explaining the molecular underpinnings of AUDs. However, animal models do not completely mimic disease initiation and progression in humans. Furthermore, post-mortem brain tissue does not permit assaying the physiological effects of alcohol exposure, specifically the impact of alcohol on human neuronal function through electrophysiology. To circumvent the use of animal and post-mortem brain models, pluripotent cells can be generated from somatic tissue of living donors suffering from AUDs, and can ultimately be differentiated into neural cell types harboring a patient-derived specific mutation.
