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. Here we investigated the impact of ethanol drinking in early adolescence on adult ethanol intake using C57BL/6J and DBA/2J mice. We modeled low-dose drinking in adolescent mice using a modified Drinking in the Dark (DID) model where the total ethanol intake during adolescence was similar between the strains to specifically ask whether low-dose ethanol exposure in the high-alcohol preferring C57BL/6J strain will also lead to increased ethanol intake in adulthood. Our results show that low-dose ethanol drinking in early adolescence dramatically increases adult intake, but only in the alcohol-preferring C57BL/6J strain. Early adolescent ethanol exposure had no effect on ethanol intake in the alcohol-nonpreferring DBA/2J mice. These data add to the growing evidence that low-dose ethanol exposures, below the pharmacologically relevant dose, can also contribute to increased drinking in adulthood, but the effect may be influenced by genetic background.

酒精是美国青少年中使用和滥用最广泛的药物。在美国，12-20 岁的年轻人喝了几乎 11% 的酒精消费，这些年轻人通常以暴饮暴食的形式消费酒精。特别令人担忧的是，开始饮酒的年轻人在其一生中患酒精使用障碍的风险会增加。在这里，我们使用 C57BL/6J 和 DBA/2J 小鼠研究了青春期早期饮酒对成人乙醇摄入量的影响。我们使用改良的黑暗中饮酒 (DID) 模型对青春期小鼠的低剂量饮酒进行建模，其中不同品系在青春期的总乙醇摄入量相似，以明确询问是否偏好 C57BL/6J 的高酒精中的低剂量乙醇暴露应变也会导致成年后乙醇摄入量增加。我们的结果表明，在青春期早期饮用低剂量乙醇会显着增加成人的摄入量，但仅限于嗜酒的 C57BL/6J 菌株。早期青少年乙醇暴露对不喜欢酒精的 DBA/2J 小鼠的乙醇摄入量没有影响。这些数据增加了越来越多的证据，即低于药理学相关剂量的低剂量乙醇暴露也可能导致成年期饮酒增加，但这种影响可能受遗传背景的影响。我们的结果表明，在青春期早期饮用低剂量乙醇会显着增加成人的摄入量，但仅限于嗜酒的 C57BL/6J 菌株。早期青少年乙醇暴露对不喜欢酒精的 DBA/2J 小鼠的乙醇摄入量没有影响。这些数据增加了越来越多的证据，即低于药理学相关剂量的低剂量乙醇暴露也可能导致成年期饮酒增加，但这种影响可能受遗传背景的影响。我们的结果表明，在青春期早期饮用低剂量乙醇会显着增加成人的摄入量，但仅限于嗜酒的 C57BL/6J 菌株。早期青少年乙醇暴露对不喜欢酒精的 DBA/2J 小鼠的乙醇摄入量没有影响。这些数据增加了越来越多的证据，即低于药理学相关剂量的低剂量乙醇暴露也可能导致成年期饮酒增加，但这种影响可能受遗传背景的影响。