Journal
DEVELOPMENTAL COGNITIVE NEUROSCIENCE
Volume 16, Issue -, Pages 130-138Publisher
ELSEVIER SCI LTD
DOI: 10.1016/j.dcn.2015.07.005
Keywords
Adolescence; Alcohol use; Brain morphometry; Neuroimaging; Co-twin control
Categories
Funding
- National Institute of Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism of the National Institutes of Health [R21AA017314]
- National Institute of Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health [R37DA05147, R01DA036216]
- National Institute of Mental Health of the National Institutes of Health [T32MH15755]
- National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke of the National Institutes of Health at the Center for Magnetic Resonance Research [P30N5057091, P30N5076408]
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Developmental changes in structure and functioning are thought to make the adolescent brain particularly sensitive to the negative effects of alcohol. Although alcohol use disorders are relatively rare in adolescence, the initiation of alcohol use, including problematic use, becomes increasingly prevalent during this period. The present study examined associations between normative drinking (alcohol initiation, binge drinking, intoxication) and brain morphometry in a sample of 96 adolescent monozygotic twins. A priori regions of interest included 11 subcortical and 20 cortical structures implicated in the existing empirical literature as associated with normative alcohol use in adolescence. In addition, co-twin control analyses were used to disentangle risk for alcohol use from consequences of alcohol exposure on the developing brain. Results indicated significant associations reflecting preexisting vulnerability toward problematic alcohol use, including reduced volume of the amygdala, increased volume of the cerebellum, and reduced cortical volume and thickness in several frontal and temporal regions, including the superior and middle frontal gyri, pars triangularis, and middle and inferior temporal gyri. Results also indicated some associations consistent with a neurotoxic effect of alcohol exposure, including reduced volume of the ventral diencephalon and the middle temporal gyrus. (C) 2015 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.
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