Chunk #30 — Examples of Specific Environments that Could be Modeled Across Species: Early Alcohol Exposures and the Peer Environment — Early Alcohol Exposures
Accumulating evidence suggests that adolescent humans and rats may be more sensitive than adults to the neurotoxic effects of alcohol (Monti et al., 2005). Heavy exposure to alcohol in adolescence has been associated with structural and functional brain deficits, and also deficits in cognitive functioning (Clark, Thatcher & Tapert, 2008; De Bellis, Clark, Beers, Soloff, Boring, Hall, et al., 2000; Hargreaves, Quinn, Kashem, Matsumoto & McGregor, 2009; Tapert, Brown, Baratta, Brown, 2004; Zeigler, Wang, Yoast, Dickinson, McCaffree, Robinowitz, et al., 2005). The seemingly heightened sensitivity of the adolescent brain to alcohol-related insult is thought to be associated with neurodevelopmental vulnerability to disruption of the extensive remodeling of the brain that takes place in adolescence (e.g., synaptic pruning; Clark, Thatcher, & Tapert, 2008). The associated neurocognitive deficits, especially those associated with deficits in executive functioning (Monti et al., 2005), could pose added risk for a range of externalizing behavior problems in addition to alcohol dependence. Although a definite causal relation in humans has yet to be established, rodent models of adolescent ethanol exposure (Crews et al., 2000; Spear, 2000; Swartzwelder, Wilson,
