Our brain is made up of millions of nerve cells that communicate via neurotransmitters. Alcohol affects our brains in several ways. It modifies brain membranes, ion channels, enzymes and receptors. Alcohol binds directly to acetylcholine, serotonin, GABA receptors, and NMDA glutamate receptors. The effect of GABA is to reduce neuronal activity by allowing chloride ions to enter the postsynaptic neuron. These ions have a negative electrical charge, which helps make the neuron less excitable. This increases when alcohol binds to the GABA receptor, probably because it allows the ion channel to stay open longer and thus allow more Cl- ions into the cell. In addition, neuron activity decreases, which explains the sedative effect of alcohol. This effect is accentuated because alcohol also reduces the excitatory effect of glutamate on NMDA receptors. Chronic alcohol consumption gradually makes NMDA receptors sensitive to glutamate while desensitizing GABAergic receptors. This adaptation causes the state of excitement characteristic of alcohol withdrawal. Alcohol also helps increase the release of dopamine. Alcohol is considered a depressant and affects the brain by changing the brain's neurotransmitters. Two articles discussing the effect of alcohol on humans are “Characteristics of pregnant women who engage in binge drinking” by Jonathan Gladstone and colleagues and “Treatment Outcomes of Alcohol Dependence among middle-aged and older adults” by David W. Oslin and colleagues. The first experiment hypothesized that pregnant women who are involved in binge drinking are more likely to engage in other behaviors unrelated to alcohol use that could have an effect on outcome. of pregnancy. ...... middle of paper ......r control group. They used pregnant women who attended the clinic and some were pregnant women counseled by telephone. Nothing tells us that these women did not engage in drinking binges when they left the hospital. Counselors will never know unless they actually diagnose them. In the second experiment, a prospective naturalistic study was conducted to examine differences in the clinical presentation and treatment outcomes of older adults diagnosed with alcohol dependence compared to middle-aged adults. The authors emphasize that “most patients completed at least 25 days of rehabilitation (81.7%)”. this means that not all patients were present at the rehabilitation center throughout the research. The result therefore cannot be precise because we do not know if the remaining 18.3% were mostly middle-aged or older adults...