Adolescent and Brain Development
Brain development occurs throughout adolescence and into early adulthood (1), however changes in adolescent brain development are more subtle compared to early infant and childhood brain development (2). Adolescent brain development involves a reduction in gray and white matter volumes (3) as the brain specialises to reflect the individual's environment and experiences (4, 5). This remodelling and refinement of the brain also reflects the social, physiological and psychological development of adolescents (6), for example, in the increased cognitive skills and in emotional processing (6) that occur during this phase of development.
There are very few human studies that provide definitive information about the effect of alcohol on adolescent brain development (1, 7). This is partially due to tight ethical controls on such studies (7). Existing human studies report that binge drinking (four or more drinks per occasion) in adolescence can cause short term memory problems, most often in spatial working memory tasks (1) or recording information about the spatial orientation of the environment. Human studies also provide evidence that alcohol affects adolescents differently to adults with adolescents more vulnerable to the impact of alcohol on brain function and behaviour (1). This may, in part, be explained by adolescents' limited experience in drinking situations and limited capacity to predict factors that will impact on the drinking event. Young people also have lower tolerance to the effects of alcohol, which makes the loss of function more immediate (8).
While animal studies report mixed findings, they are useful for comparison with humans as amount and frequency of drinking can be tightly controlled. For example, animal studies report that binge drinking adolescent animals show greater memory deficits than binge drinking adult animals (9, 10) and after repeated high levels of adolescent alcohol exposure some of these deficits continue into adulthood (11, 12). Conversely, binge drinking adult animals are less able to perform in non-stressful spatial memory tasks (13), and are more vulnerable to the acute effects of alcohol, such as alcohol-induced sedation (14) and motor impairments, (15) than adolescent alcohol-exposed animals. There is evidence that binge alcohol consumption in animals causes alterations to specific brain receptors (16) and molecular networks (17), however the impact that this has on critical functioning is less clear.
When results from animal and human studies are combined it seems that excessive alcohol consumption may have an impact on short term memory and on brain function that underlies memory formation (1). However, it is unclear if excessive alcohol consumption causes these problems or if there are underlying factors, which pre-date the onset of regular binge-level alcohol intake, that impact on the development of future problems (6). Longitudinal studies are necessary to provide clarity to our understanding in this area (6). Other possible consequences of a one-off, or more regular, excessive alcohol use occasions on the adolescent brain also requires further study, as there are few studies that provide conclusive information. The impact of low level use of alcohol (or in fact any level under four drinks per occasion) also remains undefined.
Intuitively, it seems likely that excessive alcohol consumption will have an impact on adolescent brain development, however, to date, research studies fail to provide a definitive answer.
Note: Janette Smith, an Australian researcher at the National Drug and Alcohol Research Centre (NDARC), provided peer review for this summary. Janette is researching the impact of alcohol on adolescent executive functioning (planning, working memory, attention, problem solving, verbal reasoning, inhibitions, mental flexibility, multi-tasking, initiation and monitoring of actions) and the results of this study are expected in late 2014.
References
- Guerri C, and Pascual, M. Mechanisms involved in the neurotoxic, cognitive, and neurobehavioural effects of alcohol consumption during adolescence. Alcohol. 2010; 44:15-26.
- Paus. T, Collins, D., Evans, A., Leonard, G., Pike, B., and Zijdenbos, A. Maturation of white matter in the human brain: a review of magnetic resonance studies. Brain Res Bulletin. 2001; 54:255-66.
- Sowell E, Thompson, P., Leonard, C., Welcome, S., Kan, E., and Toga, A. Longitudinal mapping of cortical thickness and brain growth in normal children. Journal of Neuroscience. 2004; 24:8223-31.
- Giedd J. Structural magnetic resonance imaging of the adolescent brain. Ann N Y Acad Sci. 2004; 1021(77-85).
- Guedd J. The teen brain: insights from neuroimaging. Journal of Adolescent Health. 2008; 42(335-343).
- Bava S, and Tapert, S. Adolescent brain development and the risk of alcohol and other drug problems. Neuropsychol Rev. 2010; 20:398-413.
- Casey B, and Jones, R. Neurobiology of the adolescent brain and behavior: Implications for substance use disorders. Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry. 2010; 49(12):1189-201.
- Schippers G, van Aken, M., Lammers, S., and de Fuentes-Merillas, L. Acquiring the competence to drink responsibly. In: Houghton E, and Roache, A., editor. Learning about drinking. Philadelphia: Brunner-Routledge; 2011. p. 35-55.
- Markwiese B, Acheson, S., Levin, E., Wilson, W., and Swartzwelder, H. Differential effects of ethanol on memory in adolescent and adult rats. Alcohol Clinical and Experimental Research. 1998; 22:416-21.
- White A, and Swartzwelder, H. Age-related effects of alcohol on memory and memory-related brain function in adolescents and adults. Recent Dev Alcohol. 2005; 17:161-76.
- Pascual M, Blanco, A., Cauli, C., Minarro, J., and Guerri, C. Intermittent ethanol exposure induces inflammatory brain damage and causes long-term behavioural alterations in adolescent rats. European Journal of Neuroscience. 2007; 25:541-50.
- Sircar R, and Sircar, D. Adolescent rats exposed to repeated ethanol treatment show lingering behavioural impairments. Alcohol Clinical and Experimental Research. 2005; 29:1402-10.
- Rajendran P, and Spear, L. The effects of ethanol on spatial and nonspatial memory in adolescent and adult rats studied using appetitive paradigm. Ann N Y Acad Sci. 2004; 1021:441-4.
- Silveri M, and Spear, L. Decreased sensitivity to the hypnotic effects of ethanol early in ontogeny. Alcohol Clinical and Experimental Research. 1998; 22:670-6.
- White A, Truesdale, M., Bae, J., Ahmad, S., Wilson, W., Best, P., et al. Differential effects of ethanol on motor coordination in adolescent and adult rats. Pharmacol Biochem Behav. 2002; 73:673-7.
- Carpenter-Hyland D, and Chandler, L. Adaptive plasticity of NMDA receptors and dendritic spines: implications for enhanced vulnerability for the adolescent brain to alcohol addiction. Pharmacol Biochem Behav. 2007; 86:200-8.
- Chandler L. Ethanol and brain plasticity: receptors and molecular networks of the postsynaptic density as targets of ethanol. Pharmacol Ther. 2003; 99:311-26.