A review on alcohol: from the central action mechanism to chemical dependency.

Introduction: alcohol is a psychotropic depressant of the central nervous system (CNS) that promotes simultaneous changes in several neuronal pathways, exerting a profound neurological impact that leads to various behavioral and biological alterations.

Objectives: to describe the effects of alcohol on the CNS, identifying the signaling pathways that are modified and the biological effects resulting from its consumption.

Methods: a literature review was conducted and articles published in different languages over the last 15 years were retrieved.