Already moderate alcohol consumption has detrimental long-term effects on brain function. However, how alcohol produces its potent addictive effects despite being a weak reinforcer is a poorly understood conundrum that likely hampers the development of successful interventions to limit heavy alcohol use.
Mathematical modeling of the diffusivity changes unveils an increased spatial reach of extrasynaptically released transmitters like dopamine that may contribute to alcohol’s progressively enhanced addictive potency.
AuthorSilvia De Santis, Alejandro Cosa-Linan, Raquel Garcia-Hernandez, Lesia Dmytrenko, Lydia Vargova, Ivan Vorisek, Serena Stoppon, Patrick Bach, Peter Kirsch, Falk Kiefer, Roberto Ciccocioppo, Eva Sykova, David Moratal, Wolfgang H. Sommer, Santiago Canals
CitationDe Santis, S., Cosa-Linan, A., Garcia-Hernandez, R., Dmytrenko, L., Vargova, L., Vorisek, I., Stopponi, S., Bach, P., Kirsch, P., Kiefer, F., Ciccocioppo, R., Sykova, E., Moratal, D., Sommer, W. and Canals, S., 2020. Chronic alcohol consumption alters extracellular space geometry and transmitter diffusion in the brain. Science Advances, 6(26), p.eaba0154.
Source
Science Advances
Release date
24/06/2020
Chronic Alcohol Consumption Alters Extracellular Space Geometry and Transmitter Diffusion in the Brain
Abstract
Already moderate alcohol consumption has detrimental long-term effects on brain function. However, how alcohol produces its potent addictive effects despite being a weak reinforcer is a poorly understood conundrum that likely hampers the development of successful interventions to limit heavy alcohol use.
In this translational study, the researchers demonstrate widespread increased mean diffusivity in the brain gray matter of chronically alcohol using humans and rats. These alterations appear soon after alcohol use initiation in rats, persist into early abstinence in both species, and are associated with a robust decrease in extracellular space tortuosity explained by a microglial reaction.
Mathematical modeling of the diffusivity changes unveils an increased spatial reach of extrasynaptically released transmitters like dopamine that may contribute to alcohol’s progressively enhanced addictive potency.
Source Website: AAAS
