Our brain is made up of millions of nerve cells that communicate through neurotransmitters. Alcohol affects our brain in several ways. It changes the membranes, ion channels, enzymes and receptors of the brain. Alcohol binds directly to acetylcholine, serotonin, GABA and NMDA glutamate receptors. The effect of GABA is to reduce neural activity by allowing chloride ions to enter the post-synaptic 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, the activity of neurons 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 arousal characteristic of alcohol withdrawal. Alcohol also helps increase the release of dopamine. Alcohol is considered a depressant and affects the brain by changing brain neurotransmitters. Two articles that discuss the effects of alcohol on humans are “Characteristics of Pregnant Women Who Engage in Binge Alcohol Consumption” by Jonathan Gladstone and colleagues and “Treatment Outcomes for Alcohol Dependence Among Middle-Aged and Older Adults” by David W. Oslin and colleagues. Experiment one hypothesized that pregnant women who engage in binge drinking are more likely to engage in other non-drinking behaviors that could have an effect on pregnancy outcome. ...... middle of the sheet ......r control group. They used pregnant women who attended the clinic and some were pregnant women who received counseling over the phone. Nothing tells us that these women were not involved in binge drinking when they were out of hospital. Consultants will never know unless they actually diagnose them. In experiment two, a naturalistic prospective 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 point out that “the majority of 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 accurate because we are not sure whether the remaining 18.3% consisted mainly of middle-aged or older adults.