Per occasion, alcohol consumption is higher in adolescents than in adults in both humans and laboratory animals, with changes in the adolescent brain probably contributing to this elevated drinking. This Review examines the contributors to and consequences of the use of alcohol in adolescents. Human adolescents with a history of alcohol use differ neurally and cognitively from other adolescents; some of these differences predate the commencement of alcohol consumption and serve as potential risk factors for later alcohol use, whereas others emerge from its use. The consequences of alcohol use in human adolescents include alterations in attention, verbal learning, visuospatial processing and memory, along with altered development of grey and white matter volumes and disrupted white matter integrity. The functional consequences of adolescent alcohol use emerging from studies of rodent models of adolescence include decreased cognitive flexibility, behavioural inefficiencies and elevations in anxiety, disinhibition, impulsivity and risk-taking. Rodent studies have also showed that adolescent alcohol use can impair neurogenesis, induce neuroinflammation and epigenetic alterations, and lead to the persistence of adolescent-like neurobehavioural phenotypes into adulthood. Although only a limited number of studies have examined comparable measures in humans and laboratory animals, the available data provide evidence for notable across-species similarities in the neural consequences of adolescent alcohol exposure, providing support for further translational efforts in this context.

在每种情况下，无论是人类还是实验动物，青少年的饮酒量都比成年人高，而青少年大脑的变化可能是饮酒量增加的原因。这篇评论研究了青少年饮酒的原因和后果。有饮酒史的青少年在神经和认知上与其他青少年有所不同；其中一些差异在开始饮酒之前就已经存在，并成为以后饮酒的潜在危险因素，而其他差异则源于饮酒。在青少年中使用酒精的后果包括注意力，言语学习，视觉空间加工和记忆力的改变，以及灰色和白色物质体积的变化以及白质完整性的破坏。对青少年啮齿动物模型的研究显示，青少年饮酒的功能后果包括认知灵活性下降，行为低效以及焦虑，禁忌，冲动和冒险精神的升高。啮齿类动物研究还表明，青少年时期饮酒会损害神经发生，诱导神经炎症和表观遗传学改变，并导致青春期样神经行为表型持续到成年期。尽管只有有限的研究检查了人类和实验动物的可比指标，但是现有数据提供了证据表明青少年接触酒精对神经造成的显着跨物种相似性，为在此背景下的进一步翻译工作提供了支持。