Repeated alcohol exposure induced dentate gyrus related spatial memory damage

Alcohol is one of the most commonly abused drugs, and it impairs diverse functions of the central nervous system, such as cognition and memorization. The dentate gyrus (DG) region of the hippocampus is crucial for spatial memory coding. However, whether alcohol exposure can affect DG neuron activity and impair spatial memory has not been identified. Here, we discovered hippocampus DG as a key region of alcohol exposure damage. (1) We found repeated alcohol exposure overactivated DG neurons, while this activation was not shown in a single alcohol exposure group. (2) Mice exposed to alcohol repeatedly exhibited obvious spatial memory impairment. In summary, our findings provide convincing evidence that the excessive activation of hippocampus neurons is involved in spatial memory impairment caused by repeated alcohol exposure.