New research examines how alcohol exposure affects aspects of neuroplasticity

A new study and study examines how alcohol exposure affects many aspects of neuroplasticity in a particular case of Brain plasticity

Neuroplasticity, the brain’s remarkable ability to adapt and reorganize itself, is under the influence or in response to excessive alcohol consumption, whether through consumption or exposure in the womb.

It is now accepted that the birth and integration of new neurons leads beyond development and into adulthood. New discoveries and new insights into how alcohol affects this and other plastic processes are discussed in “Alcohol and Plastic Neural,” a special case of Brain plasticity.

“The discovery and evolution of our acceptance of the role of adult neurogenesis in brain structure and function has altered our understanding of the brain’s response to depression, but has also provided a regenerative mechanism. into some categories, ”explains Guest Editor Kimberly Nixon, Ph.D., University of Texas at Austin, College of Pharmacy, Austin, TX, USA.

In models of Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder, earlier research found that gestational effects on moderate levels of alcohol consumption in mice during a period equal to the first and second trimesters of ingestion. significant effects on neurogenesis.

In a follow-up study published in this special issue, principal investigator Lee Anna Cunningham, Ph.D., Department of Neurosciences, University of New Mexico School of Medicine, Albuquerque, NM, USA, and colleagues examined functional and structural consequences of prenatal alcohol exposure on adult-generated neurons.

They found no direct effects from exposure to prenatal alcohol on adult hippocampal neurogenesis in mice kept under normal conditions, but exposure to prenatal alcohol inhibited neurogenic response in a rich environment.

These mice also did not perform well in neurogenesis-dependent pattern discrimination activity and showed an increase in median richness with difficulty in dendrite complexity.

“This study further elucidates the impact of gestational alcohol level on adult hippocampal plasticity and supports adult hippocampal neurogenesis as a potential therapeutic target for some neurological outcomes. the regenerative fetal alcohol syndrome, ”notes Dr. Cunningham.

The mechanisms of recovery from adult alcohol use disorder are unclear, although reactive neurogenesis has been observed after alcohol dependence. Dr. Nixon and his colleagues studied the role of adult-born neurons in restoring hippocampal learning and memory during withdrawal and cessation from alcohol dependence.

They assumed that reduction of reactive neurogenesis would adversely affect functional recovery. Adult male rats were ingested under the influence of alcohol for four days, followed by chemical inhibition of reactive neurogenesis. Despite the reduction of this hippocampal repair-capable mechanism, learning and memory behavior were still recovered and were equivalent to controls.

“More work is needed to better characterize and differentiate how adult-born neurons contribute to both hippocampal deficits in alcohol abuse but also overcoming abstinence,” Dr. Nixon says.

The special case also reviews a number of key issues: the effects of alcohol and cocaine exposure on neural stem cells and adult neurogenesis; the neurotoxic effects of excessive alcohol consumption, highlighting labor shortages in women and the elderly; the role of immune activity as a means of the influence of alcohol on synaptic and structural plasticity; and one of the first in-depth discussions of the neurophysiologic effects of alcohol on hippocampal excitatory activity at the time of alcohol withdrawal.

This activity may underlie the hyperexcitability seen in alcohol withdrawal and can be a fatal complication of medically guided “detox” from alcohol.

Also included is a review and data paper on the effects of alcohol on synaptic devices that underlie the various behavioral deficits that emerge with the development of alcohol misuse disorder and a developmental study that will provide insight. on our understanding of the effects of alcohol at synapses during adolescent development.

The main goal of most of our research programs is to find a therapeutic target that could be used to develop a drug to treat addiction. The progress I hope is that if we find a new approach or target within these different plastic systems, it will be more effective in treating alcohol use disorders and there will be more people seeking treatment. That said, much of this work is relatively new and translated, but not yet close to the stage of drug development. “

Kimberly Nixon, PhD, Guest Editor, College Pharmacy, University of Texas at Austin