OBJECTIVE:This review conceptualizes ethanol and methanol neurotoxicity through a tri-domain framework encompassing motivational, degenerative, and developmental mechanisms, and integrates decades of rodent research into a multidimensional map of how alcohol reshapes the brain. It emphasizes exposure route-specific paradigm, oral gavage, vapor inhalation, and intraperitoneal administration, as translational anchors linking behavioral, metabolic, and molecular signatures. METHOD:A literature search was conducted across PubMed, Scopus, and Web of Science databases for articles published between June 1999 and May 2026. Search terms integrated keywords related to alcohol exposure routes and neurotoxicity (e.g., ethanol, methanol, neurodegeneration, prenatal/adolescent exposure, oral gavage, vapor, and injection paradigms). Boolean operators and manual citation tracking were utilized. Out of 205 initially identified articles, 182 studies meeting selection criteria were included in the final synthesis. RESULTS:Chronic gavage models effectively capture nutrient-metabolic interactions under sustained drinking, vapor inhalation isolates central oxidative and inflammatory cascades under stress-neutral conditions, and injection paradigms offer mechanistic precision for acute mitochondrial dysfunction. Hybrid protocols reveal time-coded dynamics of degeneration and recovery. Developmental studies demonstrate that prenatal and adolescent alcohol exposure drives epigenetic remodeling, DNA methylation drift, histone acetylation, and microRNA dysregulation, leading to long-term deficits in cortical maturation and cognitive control. Methanol models extend this neuroenergetic spectrum through formate-driven mitochondrial failure and optic-cerebellar injury. CONCLUSIONS:The tri-domain framework integrates diverse rodent paradigms across exposure routes and life stages. To enhance clinical translation, future research should leverage multi-omics, connectomic mapping, and bioengineered platforms (e.g., organoids and brain-on-chip) to identify early molecular markers and targeted neuroprotective interventions.
OBJECTIVE:Opioid overdose deaths continue to increase among Black Americans, despite decreases in deaths overall nationwide. Older Black men (beginning in their 50s) have a heightened risk, dying from opioid overdoses at a five-fold increase from 2015-2023. However, research identifying differences in risk factors for opioid overdose among older Black men compared to younger Black men is limited. METHOD:The current study is a secondary analysis of survey data from a study highlighting drug misuse and treatment among Black adults in Kentucky, and compares Black men 51 and older (n = 125) to Black men 50 and younger (n = 271) on the following overdose risk factors: opioid use, stimulant use, polydrug use, stimulant and opioid co-use, injection drug use, pain, and having a doctor deny pain medication. The sample includes Black men residing in Kentucky, a state with the fourth highest opioid overdose rates in the U.S. RESULTS:Results indicate that Black men 51 and older report more stimulant use, U = 10740.50, p < .001, r = -.35; stimulant/opioid co-use, B = -1.23, p < .001; OR = .29, 95% CI = .18 - .47; polydrug use, t(223.14) = 2.46, p = .02; and pain, B = -.62, p = .008; OR = .54, 95% CI = .34 - .85; than men 50 and younger. CONCLUSIONS:Findings illustrate differential prevalence of overdose risk factors among Black men 51 and older compared to men 50 and younger. Opioid overdose prevention considerations are discussed, including assessing identified risk factors among older Black men.
OBJECTIVE:This study evaluates whether pandemic-era "alcohol-to-go" laws, adopted in most U.S. states to support restaurants and bars, produced measurable effects on economic activity and impaired driving. METHODS:We used a staggered difference-in-differences design to compare outcomes in states that adopted alcohol-to-go laws between 2020 and 2021 to never-adopting states. Policy adoption dates were drawn from the Alcohol Policy Information System. Outcomes were measured using three complementary datasets: (1) SafeGraph Patterns for weekly restaurant and bar visits (2019-2022), (2) the National Incident-Based Reporting System (NIBRS) for non-fatal DUI arrests (2018-2022), and (3) the Fatality Analysis Reporting System (FARS) for alcohol-impaired traffic fatalities (2018-2022). Analyses were conducted at the county-month level. RESULTS:Alcohol-to-go laws did not produce consistent or durable changes in levels of restaurant or bar visitation. Average treatment effects on visits were small and statistically insignificant across adoption cohorts. Similarly, we found no systematic evidence that alcohol-to-go laws affected DUI arrest rates or alcohol-involved traffic fatalities. The instances where we found significant effects were limited to isolated adoption cohorts or settings and lacked broader generalizability. CONCLUSIONS:Alcohol-to-go policies neither delivered the economic relief anticipated by policymakers nor generated the public safety harms feared by critics. Findings suggest these laws produced limited, context-dependent effects. As states debate whether to make such provisions permanent, evidence indicates caution is warranted: benefits appear narrow while risks remain uncertain.
