title: Translational studies of alcoholism: bridging the gap.
abstract: Human studies are necessary to identify and classify the brain systems predisposing individuals to develop alcohol use disorders and those modified by alcohol, while animal models of alcoholism are essential for a mechanistic understanding of how chronic voluntary alcohol consumption becomes compulsive, how brain systems become damaged, and how damage resolves. Our current knowledge of the neuroscience of alcohol dependence has evolved from the interchange of information gathered from both human alcoholics and animal models of alcoholism. Together, studies in humans and animal models have provided support for the involvement of specific brain structures over the course of alcohol addiction, including the prefrontal cortex, basal ganglia, cerebellum, amygdala, hippocampus, and the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis.
authors.affiliation: Natalie M. Zahr, Ph.D., is a postdoctoral fellow at SRI International, Menlo Park, California, and a research scientist with professor Edith V. Sullivan, Ph.D., who is a professor in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, California.
authors.forename: Natalie M
authors.initials: NM
authors.lastname: Zahr
authors.forename: Edith V
authors.initials: EV
authors.lastname: Sullivan
mesh_terms: D000428:Alcohol Drinking / Q000009:adverse effects / Q000473:pathology; D000437:Alcoholism / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000523:psychology; D000818:Animals; D001921:Brain / Q000187:drug effects / Q000473:pathology*; D004195:Disease Models, Animal; D000431:Ethanol / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000009:adverse effects; D006801:Humans; D009415:Nerve Net / Q000187:drug effects / Q000473:pathology; D057170:Translational Research, Biomedical / Q000379:methods*
chemical_list: D000431:Ethanol