Alcohol and the brain: from genes to circuits

Alcohol use produces wide-ranging and diverse effects on the central nervous system. It influences intracellular signaling mechanisms, leading to changes in gene expression, chromatin remodeling, and translation. As a result of these molecular alterations, alcohol affects the activity of neuronal ci...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Trends in neurosciences (Regular ed.) 2021-12, Vol.44 (12), p.1004-1015
Main Authors: Egervari, Gabor, Siciliano, Cody A., Whiteley, Ellanor L., Ron, Dorit
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
alcohol
Alcoholism - drug therapy
Alcoholism - genetics
Alcoholism - metabolism
Brain - metabolism
central nervous system
Chromatin Assembly and Disassembly
epigenetics
Ethanol - metabolism
Ethanol - pharmacology
Ethanol - therapeutic use
Humans
intracellular signaling
neural circuits
Neurons - metabolism
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Summary:Alcohol use produces wide-ranging and diverse effects on the central nervous system. It influences intracellular signaling mechanisms, leading to changes in gene expression, chromatin remodeling, and translation. As a result of these molecular alterations, alcohol affects the activity of neuronal circuits. Together, these mechanisms produce long-lasting cellular adaptations in the brain that in turn can drive the development and maintenance of alcohol use disorder (AUD). We provide an update on alcohol research, focusing on multiple levels of alcohol-induced adaptations, from intracellular changes to changes in neural circuits. A better understanding of how alcohol affects these diverse and interlinked mechanisms may lead to the identification of novel therapeutic targets and to the development of much-needed novel and efficacious treatment options. Alcohol affects several levels of brain function, from cellular and molecular pathways to circuit-level activity.The effects of alcohol on the various levels of brain function are closely intertwined and underlie different aspects of AUD.Understanding this diverse and interlinked molecular, cellular, and circuit landscape will help to guide the development of future therapeutic approaches.
ISSN:0166-2236
1878-108X
DOI:10.1016/j.tins.2021.09.006