title: GABAergic contributions to alcohol responsivity during adolescence: insights from preclinical and clinical studies.
abstract: There is a considerable body of literature demonstrating that adolescence is a unique age period, which includes rapid and dramatic maturation of behavioral, cognitive, hormonal and neurobiological systems. Most notably, adolescence is also a period of unique responsiveness to alcohol effects, with both hyposensitivity and hypersensitivity observed to the various effects of alcohol. Multiple neurotransmitter systems are undergoing fine-tuning during this critical period of brain development, including those that contribute to the rewarding effects of drugs of abuse. The role of developmental maturation of the γ-amino-butyric acid (GABA) system, however, has received less attention in contributing to age-specific alcohol sensitivities. This review integrates GABA findings from human magnetic resonance spectroscopy studies as they may translate to understanding adolescent-specific responsiveness to alcohol effects. Better understanding of the vulnerability of the GABA system both during adolescent development, and in psychiatric conditions that include alcohol dependence, could point to a putative mechanism, boosting brain GABA, that may have increased effectiveness for treating alcohol use disorders.
authors.affiliation: Neurodevelopmental Laboratory on Addictions and Mental Health, McLean Hospital, Belmont, MA, USA; Department of Psychiatry, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA. Electronic address: msilveri@mclean.harvard.edu.
authors.forename: Marisa M
authors.initials: MM
authors.lastname: Silveri
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D041923:Adolescent Development / Q000502:physiology*; D000437:Alcoholism / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000503:physiopathology*; D001921:Brain / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000378:metabolism*; D000431:Ethanol / Q000494:pharmacology*; D006801:Humans; D009682:Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy; D001523:Mental Disorders / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000503:physiopathology; D009043:Motor Activity / Q000187:drug effects; D018079:Receptors, GABA / Q000378:metabolism; D012890:Sleep / Q000187:drug effects; D009435:Synaptic Transmission / Q000187:drug effects / Q000502:physiology; D005680:gamma-Aminobutyric Acid / Q000378:metabolism*
chemical_list: D018079:Receptors, GABA; D000431:Ethanol; D005680:gamma-Aminobutyric Acid
keywords: Adolescent; Alcohol sensitivity; Brain; GABA; MRS