title: Alcohol, stress hormones, and the prefrontal cortex: a proposed pathway to the dark side of addiction.
abstract: Chronic exposure to alcohol produces changes in the prefrontal cortex that are thought to contribute to the development and maintenance of alcoholism. A large body of literature suggests that stress hormones play a critical role in this process. Here we review the bi-directional relationship between alcohol and stress hormones, and discuss how alcohol acutely stimulates the release of glucocorticoids and induces enduring modifications to neuroendocrine stress circuits during the transition from non-dependent drinking to alcohol dependence. We propose a pathway by which alcohol and stress hormones elicit neuroadaptive changes in prefrontal circuitry that could contribute functionally to a dampened neuroendocrine state and the increased propensity to relapse-a spiraling trajectory that could eventually lead to dependence.
authors.affiliation: Neuroscience and Behavior Program, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, MA 01003, United States.
authors.forename: Y-L
authors.initials: YL
authors.lastname: Lu
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, MA 01003, United States. Electronic address: hrichardson@cns.umass.edu.
authors.forename: H N
authors.initials: HN
authors.lastname: Richardson
mesh_terms: D000428:Alcohol Drinking / Q000503:physiopathology; D019973:Alcohol-Related Disorders / Q000503:physiopathology*; D000818:Animals; D016739:Behavior, Addictive / Q000503:physiopathology; D002492:Central Nervous System Depressants / Q000494:pharmacology*; D000431:Ethanol / Q000494:pharmacology*; D005938:Glucocorticoids / Q000378:metabolism*; D006801:Humans; D017397:Prefrontal Cortex / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000503:physiopathology*
chemical_list: D002492:Central Nervous System Depressants; D005938:Glucocorticoids; D000431:Ethanol
keywords: alcohol use disorders; animal models; dependence; glucocorticoids; hypothalamic pituitary adrenal axis; prefrontal cortex