How alcohol affects insulin-like growth factor-1's influences on the onset of puberty: A critical review.

Alcohol (ALC) is capable of delaying signs associated with pubertal development in laboratory animals, as well as in humans. The normal onset of puberty results from a timely increase in gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH) secretion, which is associated with a gradual decline in prepubertal inhibitory influences, and the establishment of excitatory inputs that increase GnRH release, which together drive pubertal development. In recent years, insulin-like growth factor-1 (IGF-1) has emerged as a pivotal contributor to prepubertal GnRH secretion and pubertal development, whose critical actions are interfered with by ALC abuse. Here we review the neuroendocrine research demonstrating the important role that IGF-1 plays in pubertal development, and describe the detrimental effects and mechanisms of action of ALC on the onset and progression of pubertal maturation.