Adolescent drinking and brain morphometry: A co-twin control analysis

Wilson, Sylia; Malone, Stephen M.; Thomas, Kathleen M.; Iacono, William G.

doi:10.1016/j.dcn.2015.07.005

Cited by 59 publications

(46 citation statements)

References 42 publications

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“…Human brain imaging studies have identified neural functioning correlates of adolescent heavy drinking. Studies using co-twin designs have found that amygdala deficits (Wilson et al , 2015), smaller orbitofrontal cortex volumes and diminished quality of decision making (Malone et al , 2014) are associated with adolescent alcohol use. Brain imaging studies examining singletons have found that young people with alcohol use disorders have smaller hippocampal volumes (De Bellis et al , 2000; Nagel et al , 2005), prefrontal abnormalities at both the structural (De Bellis et al , 2005) and functional levels (Tapert et al , 2004), and damage to the frontal lobe (Crews et al , 2007).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Alcohol Use in Adolescence and Later Working Memory: Findings From a Large Population-Based Birth Cohort

Mahedy

Field

Gage

et al. 2018

Alcohol and Alcoholism

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AimsThe study aimed to examine the association between adolescent alcohol use and working memory (WM) using a large population sample.MethodsData from the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children were used to investigate the association between alcohol use at age 15 years and WM 3 years later, assessed using the N-back task (N ~ 3300). A three-category ordinal variable captured mutually exclusive alcohol groupings ranging in order of severity (i.e. low alcohol users, frequent drinkers and frequent/binge drinkers). Differential dropout was accounted for using multiple imputation and inverse probability weighting. Adjustment was made for potential confounders.ResultsThere was evidence of an association between frequent/binge drinking (compared to the low alcohol group) and poorer performance on the 3-back task after adjusting for sociodemographic confounding variables, WM at age 11 years, and experience of a head injury/unconsciousness before age 11 years (β = −0.23, 95% CI = −0.37 to −0.09, P = 0.001). However, this association was attenuated (β = −0.12, 95% CI = −0.27 to 0.03, P = 0.11) when further adjusted for baseline measures of weekly cigarette tobacco and cannabis use. Weaker associations were found for the less demanding 2-back task. We found no evidence to suggest frequent drinking was associated with performance on either task.ConclusionsWe found weak evidence of an association between sustained heavy alcohol use in mid-adolescence and impaired WM 3 years later. Although we cannot fully rule out the possibility of reverse causation, several potential confounding variables were included to address the directionality of the relationship between WM and alcohol use problems.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Alcohol Use in Adolescence and Later Working Memory: Findings From a Large Population-Based Birth Cohort

Mahedy

Field

Gage

et al. 2018

Alcohol and Alcoholism

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“…Prior research offers strong support for the construct and psychometric validity of this composite index, including high internal consistency and expected parent-offspring correlations when assessed throughout adolescence (McGue et al, 2014). In addition, higher index scores have been associated with reduced prefrontal grey matter volume and neurocognitive performance in adolescents (Malone et al, 2014; Wilson et al, 2015), and diminished response inhibition-related theta-band MFC power and MFC-dPFC connectivity in young adults (Harper et al, 2016). …”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Specifically, heavy drinking adolescents exhibit reduced grey and white matter prefrontal cortex volume (Bellis et al, 2005; Medina et al, 2008; Malone et al, 2014; Wilson et al, 2015) and suboptimal performance on laboratory tasks of executive functioning (Nigg et al, 2006; Squeglia et al, 2009; Malone et al, 2014) compared to adolescents with limited or no history of alcohol exposure. Because most of this research was conducted using cross-sectional observational research designs, less is known about any long-term neurocognitive effects of AAU, nor is it known to what degree neurocognitive dysfunction is a manifestation of the genetic propensity to abuse alcohol versus a consequence of misuse.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Given the importance of theta-band MFC power and MFC-dPFC functional connectivity during response conflict/cognitive control, and research suggesting a link between AAU and reduce grey and white matter prefrontal cortex volume (Jacobus and Tapert, 2013; Malone et al, 2014; Wilson et al, 2015), reduced frontal theta dynamics constitutes a plausible neurophysiological mechanism linking AAU and suboptimal cognitive control.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Testing the effects of adolescent alcohol use on adult conflict-related theta dynamics

Harper

Malone

Iacono

2017

Clinical Neurophysiology

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Objective Adolescent alcohol use (AAU) is associated with brain anomalies, but less is known about long-term neurocognitive effects. Despite theoretical models linking AAU to diminished cognitive control, empirical work testing this relationship with specific cognitive control neural correlates (e.g., prefrontal theta-band EEG dynamics) remains scarce. A longitudinal twin design was used to test the hypothesis that greater AAU is associated with reduced conflict-related EEG theta-band dynamics in adulthood, and to examine the genetic/environmental etiology of this association. Methods In a large (N = 718) population-based prospective twin sample, AAU was assessed at ages 11/14/17. Twins completed a flanker task at age 29 to elicit EEG theta-band medial frontal cortex (MFC) power and medial–dorsal prefrontal cortex (MFC-dPFC) connectivity. Two complementary analytic methods (cotwin control analysis; biometric modeling) were used to disentangle the genetic/shared environmental risk towards AAU from possible alcohol exposure effects on theta dynamics. Results AAU was negatively associated with adult cognitive control-related theta-band MFC power and MFC-dPFC functional connectivity. Genetic influences primarily underlie these associations. Conclusions Findings provide strong evidence that genetic factors underlie the comorbidity between AAU and diminished cognitive control-related theta dynamics in adulthood. Significance Conflict-related theta-band dynamics appear to be candidate brain-based endophenotypes/mechanisms for AAU.

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“…Because adolescence is a critical period of brain development, teenage binge alcohol consumption has the potential to produce long-lasting effects on health and behavior beyond the immediate effects of being acutely intoxicated. Teenagers who drink alcohol have region-specific cortical thinning and white matter disorganization (Luciana et al, 2013; Wilson et al, 2015). In addition to these anatomical changes, adolescent binge drinking increases the risk for developing alcohol dependence and other mental health disorders during adulthood (McCambridge et al, 2011; Rose et al, 2014; Viner and Taylor, 2007).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Adolescent binge alcohol exposure increases risk assessment behaviors in male Wistar rats after exposure to an acute psychological stressor in adulthood

Torcaso

Asimes

Meagher

et al. 2017

Psychoneuroendocrinology

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Teenage binge drinking is a common practice that has been shown to increase the risk for developing mood disorders in adulthood. The hypothalamo-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis is often dysfunctional in mood disorder patients, and animal models of adolescent binge alcohol exposure similarly show disordered HPA axis function, even after long periods of alcohol abstinence. Here, we sought to investigate the anxiety-like behavioral consequences of binge alcohol exposure in a Wistar rat model. Male rats were administered alcohol in a binge pattern during peri-puberty, and one month later, anxiety-like behaviors were measured using the elevated plus maze. A subset of the rats then underwent 30 minutes of restraint stress, and the anxiety-like behaviors were measured again. We observed an increase in risk assessment behaviors due to both adolescent binge alcohol exposure and restraint stress, but no differences in canonical anxiety-like behaviors. We also repeated the observation that adolescent binge alcohol induces long-term changes in HPA axis sensitivity. Therefore, we concluded that a history of peri-pubertal binge alcohol exposure subtly alters the behavioral response to subsequent acute psychological stress during adulthood, which may over time contribute to the development of mood disorders. This relatively pragmatic animal model represents a more clinically relevant tool in understanding the molecular mechanisms underlying the long-term effects of adolescent binge drinking.

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Adolescent drinking and brain morphometry: A co-twin control analysis

Cited by 59 publications

References 42 publications

Alcohol Use in Adolescence and Later Working Memory: Findings From a Large Population-Based Birth Cohort

Alcohol Use in Adolescence and Later Working Memory: Findings From a Large Population-Based Birth Cohort

Testing the effects of adolescent alcohol use on adult conflict-related theta dynamics

Adolescent binge alcohol exposure increases risk assessment behaviors in male Wistar rats after exposure to an acute psychological stressor in adulthood

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