Event-Related Potential Responses to Alcohol-Related Stimuli in African-American Young Adults: Relation to Family History of Alcoholism and Drug Usage

Abstract

Aims: To use event-related potentials (ERPs) to investigate the response to alcohol-related stimuli in African-American young adults. Methods: ERPs to an object recognition task, that included pictures of objects, food and alcohol-related and non-alcoholrelated drinks as stimuli, were obtained in 81 African-American young adult men and women (18-25 years old) without a personal history of alcohol dependence. Information on: psychiatric diagnoses, personal drinking and drug use history, and familial history of alcoholism was also obtained. Results: Family history was found to be associated with lowered P3 components and higher N1 components in response to the non-alcohol-related drinks. Additionally, an exploratory analyses revealed that lower amplitude N1 components were generated in response to alcohol-related stimuli in regular marijuana users compared with non-regular users. No associations of N1 or P3 amplitudes with conduct disorder symptoms or current drinking status were found in this population. Conclusions: These studies demonstrated that family history is significantly and selectively associated with lower P3 amplitudes in this group of young adult men and women of African-American heritage. Additionally, current usage of marijuana and alcohol do not modify P3 amplitudes. However, regular marijuana use may diminish N1 response to alcohol-related stimuli, whereas, family history of alcoholism may augment N1 responses. Taken together these studies further suggest that ERPs can provide specific information on alcoholism risk as well as use of other misused drugs.

Delta and theta oscillations as risk markers in adolescent offspring of alcoholics

“…The P300 amplitude decrements do not recover with abstinence (Porjesz and Begleiter, 1985), and therefore suggesting that reduced P300 amplitude antecedes the development of alcoholism. The P300 amplitude reduction has been replicated under different experimental conditions, with and without alcohol administration, in both older and younger subjects at risk, in male and female offspring and in subjects of different ethnicities (Begleiter et al, 1987;Benegal et al, 1995;Berman et al, 1993;Cohen et al, 1997;Ehlers et al, 2003;Ehlers et al, 2001;Hill and Steinhauer, 1993;Kamarajan et al, 2005b;O′Connor et al, 1986;O′Connor et al, 1987;Porjesz and Begleiter, 1990;Ramachandran et al, 1996;Ratsma et al, 2001;Rodriguez Holguin et al, 1999;Steinhauer and Hill, 1993;Van der Stelt et al, 1998). The lowered P300 amplitude observed in clinical sample of alcoholics has also been established in community samples .…”

Evoked gamma band response in male adolescent subjects at high risk for alcoholism during a visual oddball task

“…Begleiter et al (1984) reported that male children of alcoholic fathers manifested significantly lower P3 voltages prior to any exposure to alcohol compared with matched males coming from low risk families without first or second degree alcoholic relatives. This finding has been replicated in younger and older male and female offspring of alcoholics (Begleiter et al, 1987;Benegal et al, 1995;Berman et al, 1993;Cohen et al, 1997;Ehlers et al, 2001Ehlers et al, , 2003Hesselbrock et al, 1993;Hill and Steinhauer, 1993;Hill et al, 1995;O'Connor et al, 1986O'Connor et al, , 1987Porjesz and Begleiter, 1990;Ramachandran et al, 1996;Ratsma et al, 2001;Rodriguez Holguin et al, 1999;van der Stelt et al, 1998;Whipple et al, 1991). In a comprehensive meta analysis, Polich et al (1994) found that the strongest P300 group differences were obtained in young male offspring with relatively difficult visual tasks and concluded that low voltage P300 may have predictive value as an index of vulnerability for alcoholism.…”

CLINICAL STUDY: Cocaine craving is associated with electrophysiological brain responses to cocaine‐related stimuli

“…Recently, Namkoong et al (2004) found increased P3 amplitudes induced by alcohol-related pictures in patients with alcohol dependence compared with a control group. Importantly, these effects of alcohol cues on P3 amplitudes are not observed in populations at risk without a history of alcohol or drug dependence (Ehlers et al 2003), suggesting that the enhanced processing is not a pre-morbidly present characteristic but is an acquired feature of substance use. It is plausible to assume that during frequent substance use, drug-or alcohol-related stimuli acquire more and more motivational significance.…”