Akine Yoshihide, Kato Motoichiro, Muramatsu Taro, Umeda Satoshi, Mimura Masaru, Asai Yoshiyuki, Tanada Shuji, Obata Takayuki, Ikehira Hiroo, Kashima Haruo, Suhara Tetsuya
Department of Molecular Neuroimaging, Molecular Imaging Center, National Institute of Radiological Sciences, Chiba, Japan.
Alcohol Clin Exp Res. 2007 Sep;31(9):1589-97. doi: 10.1111/j.1530-0277.2007.00453.x. Epub 2007 Jul 11.
Heavy alcohol intake induces both structural and functional changes in the central nervous system. Recent research developments converged on the idea that even in patients with alcohol dependence without apparent structural brain changes, some cognitive impairment exists, and associated functional change could be visualized by neuroimaging techniques. However, these data were from old (more than 50 years) patients using working memory and response inhibition tasks. Whether young abstinent patients show aberrant signs of brain activation is a matter of interest, specifically by the long-term memory retrieval task.
Subjects were 9 young patients with alcohol dependence with long-term abstinent (8 males and 1 female) and age- and education-matched 9 healthy controls (7 males and 2 females). We used a modified false recognition task in a functional MRI study.
The young patients with alcohol dependence showed reduced activation in the right dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, anterior cingulate cortex (ACC), left pulvinar in the thalamus, and in the right ventral striatum, although behavioral performances and regional patterns of brain activation were similar between patients and controls.
Long-term memory retrieval induced altered activations in prefrontal lobes, ACC, thalamus, and ventral striatum in young patients with alcohol dependence. These findings were correspondent to deficits of goal directed behavior, monitoring the erroneous responses, memory function, and drug-seeking behavior. Furthermore, these reduced activations can be considered as latent "lesions," suggesting subclinical pathology in alcoholic brains.
大量饮酒会导致中枢神经系统的结构和功能发生变化。最近的研究进展集中在这样一个观点上，即即使在没有明显脑结构变化的酒精依赖患者中，也存在一些认知障碍，并且相关的功能变化可以通过神经成像技术显现出来。然而，这些数据来自使用工作记忆和反应抑制任务的老年（50岁以上）患者。年轻的戒酒患者是否表现出大脑激活异常的迹象是一个值得关注的问题，特别是通过长期记忆检索任务来观察。
研究对象为9名长期戒酒的酒精依赖年轻患者（8名男性和1名女性）以及9名年龄和教育程度匹配的健康对照者（7名男性和2名女性）。在一项功能磁共振成像研究中，我们使用了改良的错误识别任务。
尽管患者和对照者的行为表现以及大脑激活的区域模式相似，但酒精依赖的年轻患者在右侧背外侧前额叶皮质、前扣带回皮质（ACC）、丘脑左侧枕核以及右侧腹侧纹状体的激活减少。
长期记忆检索在酒精依赖的年轻患者中诱发了前额叶、ACC、丘脑和腹侧纹状体激活的改变。这些发现与目标导向行为、监测错误反应、记忆功能和觅药行为的缺陷相对应。此外，这些激活减少可被视为潜在的“病变”，提示酒精性脑的亚临床病理状态。
