Synaptic long term potentiation is decreased in adolescents by acute alcohol, and adults exposed to binge drinking as adolescents continue to be affected more strongly by acute alcohol (Markwiese, Acheson, Levin, Wilson, & Swartzwelder, 1998; Weissenborn & Duka, 2003). The LTP pathway and key genes within it were decreased in expression in the vHip (Tables 2, 3). The reduction in capability of producing LTP following adolescent binge drinking would seriously impact memory formation if such a reduction persisted into adulthood. Research with the P rat animal model indicates this rat line displays innate expression differences compared to its selectively bred low ethanol-consuming NP counterpart, in excitatory synaptic genes, including glutamate receptors and scaffolding proteins, which can be exacerbated by ethanol binge drinking (Bell et al., 2016).
