Family history of alcoholism interacts with alcohol to affect brain regions involved in behavioral inhibition. Psychopharmacology (Berl) 2013 Jul;228(2):335-45
Date
03/08/2013Pubmed ID
23468100Pubmed Central ID
PMC3695053DOI
10.1007/s00213-013-3038-4Scopus ID
2-s2.0-84879967945 (requires institutional sign-in at Scopus site) 40 CitationsAbstract
RATIONALE: Impulsive behavior is associated with both alcohol use disorders and a family history of alcoholism (FHA). One operational definition of impulsive behavior is the stop-signal task (SST) which measures the time needed to stop a ballistic hand movement.
OBJECTIVE: Employ functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to study right frontal responses to stop signals in heavy drinking subjects with and without FHA, and as a function of alcohol exposure.
METHODS: Twenty-two family history-positive (FHP; age = 22.7 years, SD = 1.9) and 18 family history-negative (FHN; age = 23.7, SD = 1.8) subjects performed the SST in fMRI in two randomized visits: once during intravenous infusion of alcohol, clamped at a steady-state breath alcohol (BrAC) concentration of 60 mg/dL, and once during infusion of placebo saline. An independent reference group (n = 13, age = 23.7, SD = 1.8) was used to identify a priori right prefrontal regions activated by successful inhibition (Inh) trials, relative to "Go" trials that carried no need for inhibition [Inh > Go].
RESULTS: FHA interacted with alcohol exposure in right prefrontal cortex, where alcohol reduced [Inh > Go] activation in FHN subjects but not in FHP subjects. Within this right frontal cortical region, stop-signal reaction time also correlated negatively with [Inh > Go] activation, suggesting that the [Inh > Go] activity was related to inhibitory behavior.
CONCLUSIONS: The results are consistent with the low level of response theory (Schuckit, J Stud Alcohol 55:149-158, 1980; Quinn and Fromme, Alcohol Clin Exp Res 35:1759-1770, 2011), with FHP being less sensitive to alcohol's effects.
Author List
Kareken DA, Dzemidzic M, Wetherill L, Eiler W 2nd, Oberlin BG, Harezlak J, Wang Y, O'Connor SJAuthor
Yang Wang MD Professor in the Radiology department at Medical College of WisconsinMESH terms used to index this publication - Major topics in bold
AdultAlcoholism
Breath Tests
Ethanol
Family Health
Female
Frontal Lobe
Humans
Impulsive Behavior
Magnetic Resonance Imaging
Male
Prefrontal Cortex
Reaction Time
Young Adult
