The delayed maturation of the PFC, which continues from adolescence into early adulthood, is thought to play a role in the increased impulsivity, thrill-, risk- and novelty-seeking behavior seen in adolescence (Crews & Nixon, 2009; Crews et al., 2016; Dalwani et al., 2011; Ernst & Fudge, 2009; Petanjek et al., 2011). Impulsivity was not measured in these animals. A study using a binge-drinking model (via alcohol laced gelatin) in Sprague Dawley rats showed that the animals that consumed high amounts of ethanol showed increased risk preference (McMurray, Amodeo, & Roitman, 2016). Our data suggest that there are fewer astrocytes in the mPFC of the binge drinking animals; genes that are characteristically enriched in astrocytes are decreased far more than the remaining genes (Table 1). The oxidative phosphorylation pathway was the most significantly affected in the mPFC (Table 5); many of the genes in this pathway were increased in expression (Tables 4, 5). This suggests increased energy utilization in the mPFC. Many of the oxidative phosphorylation genes are downstream of both Igf1r and Vegfa, and their downstream targets show increased expression
