2001; De Bellis et al., 2005). Clinically relevant animal models of alcohol drinking and dependence are seldom used in investigations of alcohol on neural plasticity but could help clarify the functional significance of the effects of alcohol on the brain. Examining the effects of self-administered alcohol with and without a history of alcohol dependence on plastic, regenerative events in the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) and hippocampus holds significant potential for testing the hypothesis that newly born neurons and glia are important for the development and perhaps consequences of alcohol dependence.
