Hidden Signals: How Biology Shapes Behavior

Why does alcohol affect some people more strongly than others? And why are some people more vulnerable to alcohol addiction? Part of the answer lies in our genes. In our lab, we grow brain cells from human stem cells and use them to see how alcohol changes the way neurons talk to each other. Join me to explore how our genetics can shape how the brain responds to alcohol.

Opioid abuse has risen dramatically, especially among women. In both sexes, the hippocampus is important for learning to associate a place with a drug. Our rat studies reveal sex dependent changes in the endogenous hippocampal opioid system that would promote oxycodone-associative learning processes to a greater degree in females. Moreover, they also show that chronic stress negatively impacts the hippocampus in males, but not females, so that they do not acquire oxycodone associative learning.

This study uses single-nucleus sequencing to compare alcohol's effects on the brains of humans, macaques, and mice. By analyzing these species side-by-side, researchers identified a conserved molecular fingerprint of Alcohol Use Disorder. The data reveals that chronic alcohol use universally disrupts oligodendrocytes, the cells that insulate brain wiring. This suggests that across mammals, alcohol primarily damages the brain’s structural connectivity, pointing to these specific cells as key targets for new treatments.