Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-fbnjt Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-09T16:22:11.810Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Using Neuroimaging to Understand Alcohol's Brain Effects

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  07 November 2014

Mark S. George ,
Charlotte C. Teneback ,
Courtnay W. Bloomer ,
Michael D. Horner  and
Raymond F. Anton
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Some of the profound effects alcohol has on the brain were discovered years ago through pathological studies at autopsy. However, the recent development of new tools for structural and functional brain imaging has enabled researchers to expand upon this earlier knowledge. For example, some imaging studies have revealed that chronic alcohol consumption causes cortical loss, some of which is reversible with abstinence. Other studies have found that alcohol acts as a global central nervous system depressant, with chronic use resulting in reduced activity that can take a month or more to recover. Finally, imaging tools are also beginning to shed light on which brain regions are active when an alcoholic has the urge to drink.

Type
Feature Articles
Information
CNS Spectrums , Volume 4 , Issue 1: Neural Mechanisms of the Alcohol Abuse Cycle , January 1999 , pp. 88 - 94
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1999

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

1.Nahas, Z, George, MS, Lorberbaum, JP, Risch, SC, Spicer, KM. SPECT and PET in neuropsychiatry. Primary Psychiatry. 1998;5:52–59.Google Scholar
2.Lorberbaum, JP, Bohning, DE, Shastri, A, Nahas, Z, George, MS. Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) for the psychiatrist. Primary Psychiatry. 1998;5:60–66.Google Scholar
3.Pfefferbaum, A, Sullivan, EV, Rosenbloom, MJ, Shear, PK, Mathalon, DH, Lim, KO. Increase in brain cerebrospinal fluid volume is greater in older than in younger alcoholic patients: a replication study and CT/MRI comparison. Psychiatry Res. 1993;50:257–274.Google Scholar
4.Pfefferbaum, A, Lim, KO, Zipursky, RB, et al.Brain gray and white matter volume loss accelerates with aging in chronic alcoholics: a quantitative MRI study. Alcohol Clin Exp Res. 1992;16:1078–1089.Google Scholar
5.Pfefferbaum, A, Rosenbloom, MJ. In vivo imaging of morphological brain alterations associated with alcoholism. In: Hunt, W, Nixon, SJ, eds. Alcohol Induced Brain Damage, NIAAA Monograph. Rockville, Md: National Institutes of Health; 1986:547–549.Google Scholar
6.Jacobsen, R. The contributions of sex and drinking history to the CT brain scan changes in alcoholics. Psychol Med. 1986;16:547–549.Google Scholar
7.Mann, K, Batra, A, Gunthner, A, Schroth, G. Do women develop alcoholic brain damage more readily than men? Alcohol Clin Exp Res. 1992;16:1052–1056.Google Scholar
8.Shear, PK, Jernigan, TL, Butters, N. Volumetric magnetic resonance imaging quantification of longitudinal brain changes in abstinent alcoholics. Alcohol Clin Exp Res. 1994;18:172–176.Google Scholar
9.Hayakawa, K, Kumagai, H, Suzuki, Y, et al.MR imaging of chronic alcoholism. Acta Radiol. 1992;33:201–206.Google Scholar
10.Pfefferbaum, A, Sullivan, EV, Mathalon, DH, Shear, PK, Rosenbloom, MJ, Lim, KO. Longitudinal changes in magnetic resonance imaging brain volumes in abstinent and relapsed alcoholics. Alcohol Clin Exp Res. 1995;19:1177–1191.Google Scholar
11.Mann, K, Dengler, W, Klose, U, Ne, T, Mundle, G. MR-spectroscopy in alcoholic brain damage: no evidence for water shift in abstinence. Alcohol Clin Exp Res. 1994;18:430. Abstract.Google Scholar
12.Mattson, S, Riley, E, Jernigan, T, et al.Fetal alcohol syndrome: a case report of neuropsychological, MRI and EEG assessment of two children. Alcohol Clin Exp Res. 1992;16:1001–1003.Google Scholar
13.Clarren, SK. Neuropathology in fetal alcohol syndrome. In: West, JR, ed. Alcohol and Brain Development. New York, NY: Oxford University Press; 1986:158–166.Google Scholar
14.Victor, M, Adams, RD, Collins, GH. The Wernicke-Korsakoff Syndrome. Philadelphia, Pa: FA Davis & Co; 1971.Google Scholar
15.Volkow, ND, Hitzemann, R, Wang, GJ, et al.Decreased brain metabolism in neurologically intact healthy alcoholics. Am J Psychiatry. 1992;149:1016–1022.Google Scholar
16.Volkow, ND, Wang, GJ, Hitzemann, R, et al.Recovery of brain glucose metabolism in detoxified alcoholics. Am J Psychiatry. 1994;151:178–183.Google Scholar
17.Caspari, D, Trabert, W, Heinz, G, Lion, N, Henkes, H, Huber, G. The pattern of regional cerebral blood flow during alcohol withdrawal—a single photon emission tomography study with 99Tc-HMPAO. Acta Psychiatr Scand. 1993;87:414–417.Google Scholar
18.Brown, ME, Anton, RF, Malcolm, R, Ballenger, JC. Alcohol detoxifications and withdrawal seizures: clinical support for a kindling hypothesis. Biol Psychiatry. 1988;23:507–514.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
19.Moak, DH, Anton, RF. Alcohol-related seizures and the kindling effect of repeated detoxifications: the influence of cocaine. Alcohol. 1996;31:135–148.Google Scholar
20.Ballenger, JC, Post, RM. Kindling as a model for the alcohol withdrawal syndromes. Br J Psychol. 1978;133:1–14.Google Scholar
21.Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders. 4th ed. Washington, DC: American Psychiatric Association; 1994.Google Scholar
22.George, MS, Teneback, CC, Moore, J, Stallings, LE, Anton, R, Malcolm, RJ. Effect of past detoxification history on human brain activity in the immediate post-detoxification period as determined by SPECT scanning. Alcohol Clin Exp Res. 1998;22:62A. Abstract 349.Google Scholar
23.Nicolas, JM, Catafau, AM, Estruch, R, et al.Regional cerebral blood flow SPECT in chronic alcoholism: relation to neuropsychological testing. J Nucl Med. 1993;34:1452–1459.Google Scholar
24.Dally, S, Luft, A, Ponsin, JC, Girre, C, Mamo, H, Fournier, E. Abnormal pattern of cerebral blood flow distribution in young alcohol addicts. Br J Addict. 1988;83:105–109.Google Scholar
25.Melgaard, B, Henriksen, L, Ahlgren, P, Danielsen, UT, Sorensen, H, Paulson, OB. Regional cerebral blood flow in chronic alcoholics measured by single photon emission computerized tomography. Acta Neurol Scand. 1990;82:87–93.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
26.Hata, T, Meyer, JS, Tanahashi, N, et al.Three-dimensional mapping of local cerebral perfusion in alcoholic encephalopathy with and without Wernicke-Korsakoff syndrome. J Cereb Blood Flow Metab. 1987;7:35–44.Google Scholar
27.Adams, KM, Gilman, S, Koeppe, RA, et al.Neuropsychological deficits are correlated with frontal hypometabolism in positron emission tomography studies of older alcoholic patients. Alcohol Clin Exp Res. 1993;17:205–210.Google Scholar
28.Adams, KM, Gilman, S, Koeppe, R, et al.Correlation of neuropsychological function with cerebral metabolic rate in subdivisions of frontal lobe of older alcoholic patients measured with 18 F fluorodeoxyglucose and positron emission tomography. Neuropsychology. 1995;9:275–280.Google Scholar
29.Wang, G-J, Volkow, ND, Roque, CT, et al.Functional importance of ventricular enlargement and cortical atrophy in healthy subjects and alcoholics as assessed with PET, MR imaging, and neuropsychologic testing. Radiology. 1993;186:59–65.Google Scholar
30.Modell, JG, Mountz, JM. Focal cerebral blood flow change during craving for alcohol measured by SPECT. J Neuropsychiatr. 1995;7:15–22.Google Scholar
31.Grant, S, London, ED, Newlin DB, et al. Activation of memory circuits during cue-elicited cocaine craving. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA. 1996;93:12040–12045.Google Scholar
32.Fein, G, Meyerhoff, DJ, Weiner, MW. Magnetic resonance spectroscopy of the brain in alcohol abuse. Alcohol Health Res World. 1995;19:3034–3056.Google Scholar
33.Mendelson, JH, Woods, BT, Chiu, T-M, et al.In vivo proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy of alcohol in human brain. Alcohol. 1990;7:443–448.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
34.Salonen, I, Hietala, J, Laihinen, A, et al.A PET study on the acute effect of ethanol on striatal D2 dopamine receptors with [c-11] raclopride in healthy males. Hum Psychopharmacol. 1997;12:145–152.Google Scholar