Editorial: Is Early Onset of Alcohol Use Associated With Later Alcohol Use?

The effects of binge drinking on the integrity of sub-cortical structures and on inhibitory control have been not extensively studied in humans. [...]there is dearth of longitudinal studies analyzing predictors of binge drinking in non-US or non-European samples. The study disclosed that rats binge-drink more in adolescence than in adulthood and that this pattern negatively impacts anxiety responses in late adulthood. [...]adolescent exposure to alcohol enhanced alcohol consumption in adulthood. PAE has also been associated with increased alcohol intake in the offspring, which could be the result of PAE enhancing stress sensitivity or anxiety. [...]Madarnas et al. found that the anxiety-prone phenotype induced by PAE (forced access to 6% alcohol, for 20 days prior to mating and throughout pregnancy and lactation) was associated with alterations in the radial distribution of axons of the cingulate cortex and in the expression of serotonergic and cannabinoid receptors. The findings and discussions presented in this Topic suggest that delaying age of first alcohol use is a deterrent of subsequent engagement in risky drinking and can protect from brain neurotoxicity and insult. [...]the first exposure to alcohol can occur much earlier than in adolescence, i.e., during prenatal life, which is associated with multiple neurobehavioral deficits and alterations in postnatal reactivity toward the drug.