How is the brain altered with alcohol use and abuse in adolescence relative to adults? Whereas adolescents may be less sensitive to some of the behavioral effects of alcohol, they appear to be more sensitive to some of the neurotoxic effects 94. For example, physiological studies (e.g., 105) show greater ethanol induced inhibition of NMDA-mediated synaptic potentials and long-term potentiation in hippocampal slices in adolescents than in adults. Repeated exposure of intoxicating doses of ethanol also produces greater hippocampal dependent memory deficits 106, 107 and prolonged ethanol exposure has been associated with increased dendritic spine size 108. These latter findings of dendritic spine changes are suggestive of modification of brain circuitry that may stabilize addictive behavior 94.
