A subchronic history of binge-drinking elicits mild, age- and sex-selective, affective, and cognitive anomalies in C57BL/6J mice.

Introduction: Alcohol abuse is a risk factor for affective and cognitive disorders, with evidence indicating that adolescent-onset excessive drinking can result in long-term deficiencies in emotional regulation and cognition, with females more susceptible to the negative emotional and cognitive consequences of excessive alcohol consumption. However, our prior examination of the interactions between sex and the age of drinking-onset indicated minimal signs of anxiety-like behavior during alcohol withdrawal, which may have related to the concurrent anxiety testing of male and female subjects.

Methods: The present study addressed this potential confound by assaying for alcohol withdrawal-induced negative affect separately in males and females and expanded our investigation to include measures of spatial and working memory.

Alcohol-Drinking Under Limited-Access Procedures During Mature Adulthood Accelerates the Onset of Cognitive Impairment in Mice.

A history of heavy drinking increases vulnerability to, and the severity of, Alzheimer's disease (AD) and related dementias, with alcohol use disorder identified as the strongest modifiable risk factor for early-onset dementia. Heavy drinking has increased markedly in women over the past 10 years, particularly in mature adult women during the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. This is concerning as women are more sensitive to many alcohol-related disease states, including AD and related dementias.