George M S, Anton R F, Bloomer C, Teneback C, Drobes D J, Lorberbaum J P, Nahas Z, Vincent D J
Radiology Department, Medical University of South Carolina, 171 Ashley Ave, Charleston, SC 29425, USA.
Arch Gen Psychiatry. 2001 Apr;58(4):345-52. doi: 10.1001/archpsyc.58.4.345.
Functional imaging studies have recently demonstrated that specific brain regions become active in cocaine addicts when they are exposed to cocaine stimuli. To test whether there are regional brain activity differences during alcohol cue exposure between alcoholic subjects and social drinkers, we designed a functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) protocol involving alcohol-specific cues.
Ten non-treatment-seeking adult alcoholic subjects (2 women) (mean [SD] age, 29.9 [9.9] years) as well as 10 healthy social drinking controls of similar age (2 women) (mean [SD] age, 29.4 [8.9] years) were recruited, screened, and scanned. In the 1.5-T magnetic resonance imaging scanner, subjects were serially rated for alcohol craving before and after a sip of alcohol, and after a 9-minute randomized presentation of pictures of alcoholic beverages, control nonalcoholic beverages, and 2 different visual control tasks. During picture presentation, changes in regional brain activity were measured with the blood oxygen level-dependent technique.
Alcoholic subjects, compared with the social drinking subjects, reported higher overall craving ratings for alcohol. After a sip of alcohol, while viewing alcohol cues compared with viewing other beverage cues, only the alcoholic subjects had increased activity in the left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex and the anterior thalamus. The social drinkers exhibited specific activation only while viewing the control beverage pictures.
When exposed to alcohol cues, alcoholic subjects have increased brain activity in the prefrontal cortex and anterior thalamus-brain regions associated with emotion regulation, attention, and appetitive behavior.
功能成像研究最近表明，可卡因成瘾者在接触可卡因刺激时，特定脑区会变得活跃。为了测试酒精成瘾者与社交饮酒者在接触酒精线索期间脑区活动是否存在差异，我们设计了一项涉及酒精特异性线索的功能磁共振成像（fMRI）方案。
招募、筛选并扫描了10名未寻求治疗的成年酒精成瘾者（2名女性）（平均[标准差]年龄，29.9[9.9]岁）以及10名年龄相仿的健康社交饮酒对照者（2名女性）（平均[标准差]年龄，29.4[8.9]岁）。在1.5-T磁共振成像扫描仪中，受试者在抿一口酒精之前和之后，以及在随机呈现9分钟酒精饮料、对照非酒精饮料图片和2种不同视觉对照任务的图片之后，对酒精渴望程度进行连续评分。在图片呈现期间，采用血氧水平依赖技术测量脑区活动的变化。
与社交饮酒者相比，酒精成瘾者报告的对酒精的总体渴望评分更高。抿一口酒精后，与观看其他饮料线索相比，观看酒精线索时，只有酒精成瘾者的左侧背外侧前额叶皮质和丘脑前部活动增加。社交饮酒者仅在观看对照饮料图片时表现出特定激活。
当接触酒精线索时，酒精成瘾者前额叶皮质和丘脑前部（与情绪调节、注意力和食欲行为相关的脑区）的脑活动会增加。
