Study establishes detrimental effects of alcohol on brain activity
Brain energy patterns are precise and clear indicators of brain activity. The effects of alcohol on the brain are always of interest, and new research presented by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) aims to better understand some of these effects. Previous assessments already indicate that alcohol reduces brain glucose metabolism and regional brain activity.
Dr. Ehsan Shokri-Kojori and Dr. Nora D. Volkow of the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA) Laboratory of Neuroimaging led the new study combining brain imaging techniques and neuronal activity to derive power and cost. Power is measured by observing how much an active brain region uses energy, and cost is measured by excess use of energy in the same region. The imaging patterns reflect glucose metabolism.
In healthy volunteers, there are regular differences in power and cost in different brain regions. But acute and chronic exposure to alcohol, as in light and heavy drinkers, disrupts this power and cost.
Dr. Shokri-Kojori has noted regional power loss in the frontal cortex of the brain of heavy drinkers, which is otherwise needed for important decision making. There is also diminishing power and cost of activity in the visual regions during alcohol intoxication, consistent with the reliance of these regions on alternative energy sources when deprived of glucose.
George F. Koob, Ph.D., director of the NIAAA, has explained that the association between brain activity and energy utilization is an important marker of brain health, and the brain-glucose relation is important to understand.
The researchers conclude that heavy drinking shifts the brain toward less efficient energetic states. Dr. Shokri-Kojori has said that further studies could provide new multimodal markers for different neuropsychiatric diseases, including alcoholism.
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