• Neuroscience · Sep 2014

    Review

    Alcohol, stress hormones, and the prefrontal cortex: a proposed pathway to the dark side of addiction.

    • Y-L Lu and H N Richardson.
    • Neuroscience and Behavior Program, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, MA 01003, United States.
    • Neuroscience. 2014 Sep 26; 277: 139-51.

    AbstractChronic 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. Copyright © 2014 IBRO. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

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