ALCOHOL, STRESS HORMONES, AND THE PREFRONTAL CORTEX: A PROPOSED PATHWAY TO THE DARK SIDE OF ADDICTION

作者：Lu Y L; Richardson H N^*

来源：Neuroscience, 2014, 277: 139-151.

DOI：10.1016/j.neuroscience.2014.06.053

• alcohol use disorders
• hypothalamic pituitary adrenal axis
• prefrontal cortex
• animal models
• dependence
• glucocorticoids

Chronic 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.

• 出版日期2014-9-26