Adolescent low-dose ethanol drinking in the dark increases ethanol intake later in life in C57BL/6J, but not DBA/2J mice.

Alcohol is the most widely used and abused drug among youth in the United States. Youths aged 12-20 years old drink almost 11% of all alcohol consumed in the United States, and typically these young people are consuming alcohol in the form of binge drinking. Particularly concerning is that the risk of developing an alcohol use disorder over their lifetime increases the younger one begins to drink.

Adolescent but not adult ethanol binge drinking modulates ethanol behavioral effects in mice later in life.

Background: Alcohol use disorder is a serious illness marked by uncontrollable drinking and a negative withdrawal state when not using. Alcohol is one of the most commonly used drugs among adolescent populations. Given that adolescence is a unique developmental stage during which alcohol has long-term effects on future drug-taking behavior; it is essential to understand how early exposure to ethanol during adolescence may affect the abuse liability of the drug later in life.

The gene and its associated phenotypes: focus on CNS drug response.

The  gene was a top finding in genome-wide association studies (GWAS) of antipsychotic drug response. Subsequent GWAS findings for include cognitive ability, educational attainment, body mass index, response to corticosteroids and drug dependence. We review current human association evidence for , in addition to functional studies that include two published mouse knockouts.

Early adolescent nicotine exposure affects later-life cocaine reward in mice.

Adolescence represents a unique developmental period associated with increased risk-taking behavior and experimentation with drugs of abuse, in particular nicotine. We hypothesized that exposure to nicotine during early adolescence might increase the risk for drug reward in adulthood. To test this hypothesis, male ICR mice were treated with a subchronic regimen of nicotine or saline during adolescence, and their preference for cocaine, morphine and amphetamine was examined using the conditioned place preference (CPP) test in adulthood.