title: Neuroscience of alcohol for addiction medicine: Neurobiological targets for prevention and intervention in adolescents.
abstract: Structural and functional neuroimaging studies indicate that heavy alcohol use during adolescence may be neurotoxic to the brain. This chapter reviews the neuroimaging findings in cross-sectional and longitudinal studies of adolescent heavy alcohol users. These youth exhibit reductions in prefrontal, hippocampal, and cerebellar brain volume, decreased frontoparietal, and increased frontolimbic white matter integrity, as well as alterations in blood oxygen level-dependent response during working memory, inhibitory control, verbal encoding, decision making, and reward processing-some of which appear to differ between males and females. Although some exist, additional longitudinal studies will significantly advance addiction medicine by aiding prevention scientists and treatment providers to develop neurobiologically informed ways of strengthening neural networks prior to and after the onset of heavy alcohol use, thereby promoting healthy cognitive functioning across the adolescent period.
authors.affiliation: Departments of Psychiatry, Oregon Health & Science University, Portland, OR, USA.
authors.forename: Anita
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Cservenka
authors.affiliation: Departments of Psychiatry, Oregon Health & Science University, Portland, OR, USA; Behavioral Neuroscience, Oregon Health & Science University, Portland, OR, USA. Electronic address: nagelb@ohsu.edu.
authors.forename: Bonnie J
authors.initials: BJ
authors.lastname: Nagel
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000437:Alcoholism / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000523:psychology*; D000818:Animals; D001921:Brain / Q000503:physiopathology*; D003071:Cognition / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000502:physiology; D000431:Ethanol / Q000009:adverse effects*; D006801:Humans; D008570:Memory, Short-Term / Q000502:physiology; D009488:Neurosciences
chemical_list: D000431:Ethanol
keywords: Adolescence; Alcohol; Brain volume; White matter; fMRI