in cell death) may be enhanced during the additional 4 weeks of exposure to intermittent alcohol vapors to reverse the negative effects of alcohol on proliferation. An alternative explanation is that the effects of alcohol on proliferation during dependence may be specific to high levels of voluntary oral self-administration of alcohol (rather than passive exposure to alcohol vapors), such that 4 weeks of abstinence from alcohol self-administration rescued proliferation in the prolonged dependent group. Whether the newly generated proliferating cells after prolonged dependence eventually mature to attain a phenotype is questionable and warrants detailed investigation.
