Effects of Abstinence on the Brain: Quantitative Magnetic Resonance Imaging and Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopic Imaging in Chronic Alcohol Abuse

O’Neill, Joseph; Cardenas, Valerie A.; Meyerhoff, Dieter J.

doi:10.1097/00000374-200111000-00015

Cited by 25 publications

(31 citation statements)

References 33 publications

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“…Thus, the pattern of selective impairments in which reversal performance was greatly impaired and DMS performance was modestly impaired was no longer evident. However, given clinical observations of cocaine-associated structural changes in the orbitofrontal and anterior cingulate cortex (Bartzokis et al 2002; Ersche et al 2011; Franklin et al 2002; O'Neill et al 2001; Sim et al 2007), we hypothesized that an attentional challenge could reveal latent continuing dysfunction. Our main finding is that there remains a latent impairment in reversal performance that can be revealed by an attentional challenge.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Latent vulnerability in cognitive performance following chronic cocaine self-administration in rhesus monkeys

et al. 2012

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Rationale Cocaine use is associated with cognitive impairment which impacts treatment outcome. A clearer understanding of those deficits, and whether particular environments exacerbate them, is needed. Objectives This study evaluated whether previously observed domain-specific cognitive deficits persisted following a three month cessation from chronic cocaine self-administration, as well as the impact of novel and cocaine-associated attentional distractors. Methods Control and experimental groups of monkeys performed stimulus discrimination, stimulus reversal, and delayed match-to-sample (DMS) tasks. After establishing post-cocaine baseline performance, we examined general distractibility in both groups, using brief novel distractors counterbalanced across each task. After testing the novel distractor, an identical approach was used for exposure to an appetitive distractor previously associated with cocaine in the experimental group, or water in the control group. Results Post-administration baseline performance was equivalent between groups on all tasks. In the cocaine group, stimulus discrimination was unaffected by either distractor, whereas reversal performance was disrupted by both the novel and appetitive distractors. DMS performance was impaired in the cocaine group in the presence of the novel distractor. The control group’s performance was not affected by the presentation of either distractor on any task. Conclusion Our results reveal that despite normalized performance between groups, there exists in the cocaine group a domain-specific latent vulnerability of cognitive performance to impairment by environmental distractors. The pattern of vulnerability recapitulates the frank impairments seen in drug free animals during an active self-administration phase. A greater impact of the cocaine-associated distractor over the novel one was not observed.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Latent vulnerability in cognitive performance following chronic cocaine self-administration in rhesus monkeys

et al. 2012

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“…Human studies have provided substantial evidence that protracted abstinence results in improvement in neurocognitive function (Fein et al 2006; Sullivan et al 2000a; Sullivan et al 2000b), and induces structural changes in the brain (Carlen et al 1978; O’Neill et al 2001; Pfefferbaum et al 1995; Rosenbloom et al 2007). Thus, in the present study, AIE-induced neurodegeneration may have been partially recovered by the time behavioral testing began.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Attention, impulsivity, and cognitive flexibility in adult male rats exposed to ethanol binge during adolescence as measured in the five-choice serial reaction time task: the effects of task and ethanol challenges

Semenova

2011

Psychopharmacology

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Rationale Alcohol abuse is prevalent in adolescent humans, but the long-term behavioral consequences of binge alcohol drinking are unknown. Objectives This study investigated the long-term effects of adolescent intermittent ethanol (AIE) exposure on attention and impulsivity. Methods Adolescent male rats were exposed to 5 g/kg of 25% v/w ethanol every 8 h for 4 days. During adulthood rats were tested in the 5-choice serial reaction time task (5-CSRTT) assessing attention, impulsivity and cognitive flexibility. Results There was no metabolic tolerance to ethanol in adolescent rats during AIE exposure. In the 5-CSRTT under baseline conditions, there were no differences between AIE-exposed and control rats in accuracy, omissions or premature responses, although AIE-exposed rats tended to make more timeout responses than control rats. The short-duration stimulus challenge decreased accuracy and increased omissions and timeout responses in both AIE-exposed and control rats. The long intertrial interval challenge increased premature responses in all rats. An ethanol challenge decreased correct responses, and increased omissions in control, but not in AIE-exposed, rats. Control, but not AIE-exposed, rats exhibited decreased premature and timeout responses after ethanol administration. Response latencies were not affected in AIE-exposed or control rats indicating no sedative effects of ethanol challenge. Conclusions The results indicate that ethanol binge exposure during adolescence has long-lasting neurobehavioral consequences, which persist into adulthood and can be revealed after re-exposure to ethanol. AIE-induced diminished responses to disruptive effects of ethanol on attention, impulsivity and cognitive flexibility may lead to increased alcohol drinking and other maladaptive behaviors in adulthood.

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“…White matter volume has been shown to increase with abstinence (57; 58) although differences between abstinent and relapsed alcoholics can be driven largely by the negative changes in the relapsed group rather than or in addition to improvements in the abstinent group (59). There is less evidence for improvements in gray matter volume although Pfefferbaum et al (59) reported a trend for increased gray matter volume at 30 days of abstinence.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Impact of Alcoholism on Sleep Evoked Δ Frequency Responses

Colrain

Crowley²,

Nicholas

et al. 2009

Biological Psychiatry

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Background K-complexes (KC) are evoked delta frequency EEG responses during sleep that occur when large numbers of healthy cortical cells burst fire in a synchronized manner. KC amplitude and incidence are sensitive measures of normal healthy brain aging. Given the known neurodegenerative consequences of alcohol abuse it was hypothesized that alcoholism would be associated with further KC amplitude and incidence reductions. Methods 84 subjects (42 alcoholics) screened for medical, psychiatric and sleep problems, participated. The protocol involved the presentation of auditory stimuli during stage 2 sleep throughout a night in the laboratory. KCs were identified and averaged, to enable measurement of the P2, N550, and P900 peaks. Results Compared with controls, alcoholic men and women had lower KC incidence (p < .001) and P2 (P < .001), N550 (p < .05) and P900 (p < .05) amplitudes. There was a significant diagnosis by site interaction (p < .001) indicating the group difference was largest at frontal sites. Longer sobriety correlated with increased N550 amplitude (p < .01). Conclusions KC incidence and amplitude were negatively impacted in alcoholic men and women with exacerbation of the normal aging effects, particularly over frontal scalp regions. The observed relationship between improvements in KC measures and increased time of abstinence suggests that these measures may provide a useful marker of brain recovery with continued abstinence from alcohol.

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Effects of Abstinence on the Brain: Quantitative Magnetic Resonance Imaging and Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopic Imaging in Chronic Alcohol Abuse

Cited by 25 publications

References 33 publications

Latent vulnerability in cognitive performance following chronic cocaine self-administration in rhesus monkeys

Latent vulnerability in cognitive performance following chronic cocaine self-administration in rhesus monkeys

Attention, impulsivity, and cognitive flexibility in adult male rats exposed to ethanol binge during adolescence as measured in the five-choice serial reaction time task: the effects of task and ethanol challenges

The Impact of Alcoholism on Sleep Evoked Δ Frequency Responses

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