Voluntary adolescent alcohol exposure does not increase adulthood consumption of alcohol in multiple mouse and rat models
Adolescence is a period of increased risk taking, including increased alcohol and drug use. Multiple clinical studies report a positive relationship between adolescent alcohol consumption and risk of developing an alcohol use disorder (AUD) in adulthood. However, few preclinical studies have attempted to tease apart the biological contributions of adolescent alcohol exposure, independent of other social, environmental, and stress factors, and studies that have been conducted show mixed results. Here we use several adolescent voluntary consumption of alcohol models, conducted across three institutes and with two rodent species, to investigate the ramifications of adolescent alcohol consumption on adulthood alcohol consumption in controlled, preclinical environments. We consistently demonstrate a lack of increase in adulthood alcohol consumption. This work highlights that risks seen in both human datasets and other murine drinking models may be due to unique social and environmental factors, some of which may be unique to humans.