Chronic Alcohol Drinking Slows Brain Development in Adolescent and Young Adult Nonhuman Primates

Abstract

The transition from adolescence to adulthood is associated with brain remodeling in the final stages of developmental growth. It is also a period when a large proportion of this age group engages in binge alcohol drinking (occasional consumption of four to five drinks leading to intoxication) and heavy alcohol drinking (binge drinking on ≥5 d in a month). Here we report on magnetic resonance imaging of developmental changes in the brain occurring during late adolescence and early adulthood (3.5–7.5 years of age) in a rhesus macaque model of alcohol self-administration. Monkeys were imaged prior to alcohol exposure, and following ∼6 and ∼12 months of daily (22 h/d) access to ethanol and water. The results revealed that the brain volume increases by 1 ml/1.87 years throughout the late adolescence and early adulthood in controls. Heavy alcohol drinking reduced the rate of brain growth by 0.25 ml/year per 1 g/kg daily ethanol. Cortical volume increased throughout this period with no significant effect of alcohol drinking on the cortical growth rate. In subcortical regions, age-dependent increases in the volumes of globus pallidus, thalamus, brainstem, and cerebellum were observed. Heavy drinking attenuated the growth rate of the thalamus. Thus, developmental brain volume changes in the span of late adolescence to young adulthood in macaques is altered by excessive alcohol, an insult that may be linked to the continuation of heavy drinking throughout later adult life.

Epigallocatechin Gallate Ameliorates the Effects of Prenatal Alcohol Exposure in a Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder-Like Mouse Model

“…In contrast, lower DCX quantification in the DG has been reported in comparison to the controls in adult mice prenatally exposed to ethanol [ 48 ]. Increased signaling in immature neurons during fetal life may indicate a delay in the maturation processes produced by the oxidative damage generated by PAE on the organogenesis processes [ 49 , 50 ]. As for the effect of EGCG therapy in fetal neurogenesis, our results show an improvement in maturation and differentiation processes.…”

Effect of alcohol use on the adolescent brain and behavior

“…In a recent study, rhesus macaques were imaged before and after one year of alcohol exposure. Findings showed that brain volume increased in controls throughout adolescence into early adulthood; however, heavy drinking macaques showed reduced rates of brain growth over the follow-up period, particularly in white matter regions and the thalamus, in a dose-dependent fashion (115). These structural changes may be associated with cognitive aberrations continuing into adulthood.…”

Anatomical and diffusion MRI brain atlases of the fetal rhesus macaque brain at 85, 110 and 135 days gestation

“…The INIA19 brain atlas ( Rohlfing et al, 2012 ) provides a template image of the mature rhesus macaque brain. In a recent study that characterized brain size changes from late adolescence through middle-aged adulthood in 71 (13 female) rhesus macaques ( Shnitko et al, 2019 ), the set of the 6 brain regions analyzed above were delineated on the INIA19 atlas. The volumes of these brain structures derived from the INIA19 template were found to be representative of the volume for each structure in the mature rhesus macaque.…”