Chunk #28 — Examples of Specific Environments that Could be Modeled Across Species: Early Alcohol Exposures and the Peer Environment — Early Alcohol Exposures
It is possible that early alcohol exposure could contribute to risk for dependence by at least two different mechanisms: (1) by altering ethanol sensitivity or alcohol-seeking processes, and (2) by inducing neurocognitive impairment that ultimately could relate to impaired self-control processes. With respect to altering ethanol sensitivity and alcohol seeking, adolescent rats (like humans) tend to consume more alcohol than their adult counterparts and this is not just a function of global consummatory behavior (hyperphagia, hyperdipsia) suggesting enhanced rewarding or decreased aversive responses at this stage of life (Vetter, Doremus-Fitzwater, & Spear, 2007). Adolescent alcohol exposure in rats has been shown to be associated with high levels of appetitive motivation for alcohol (e.g., Pautassi et al., 2008), increased hypothermia (Ristuccia & Spear, 2008), increased stress-induced alcohol consumption (Fullgrabe, Vengelience, & Spanagel, 2007), altered alcohol-induced social facilitation s (Varlinskaya & Spear, 2007), and decreased sensitivity to some but not all symptoms of “hangover” (acute withdrawal; Doremus-Fitzwater & Spear, 2007). At present, it remains unclear to what extent adolescent exposure and drinking behaviors predicts adult variation in alcohol consumption in rats (Vetter
