Department of Radiology and Biomedical Imaging, University of California, San Francisco, CA, USA.
Drug Alcohol Depend. 2012 Sep 1;125(1-2):27-36. doi: 10.1016/j.drugalcdep.2012.03.012. Epub 2012 Apr 12.
Little is known about the effects of alcohol dependence on cortical concentrations of glutamate (Glu) or gamma aminobutyric acid (GABA). We used proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS) to study cross-sectionally and longitudinally the concentrations of these in alcohol dependent individuals (ALC) during early abstinence from alcohol.
Twenty ALC were studied at about one week of abstinence from alcohol (baseline) and 36 ALC at five weeks of abstinence and compared to 16 light/non-drinking controls (LD). Eleven ALC were studied twice during abstinence. Participants underwent clinical interviewing, blood work, neuropsychological testing, structural imaging and single-volume proton MRS at 4Tesla. Absolute concentrations of Glu, GABA and those of other (1)H MRS-detectable metabolites were measured in the anterior cingulate (ACC), parieto-occipital cortex (POC) and dorso-lateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC). Relationships of metabolite levels to drinking severity and neurocognition were also assessed.
ALC at baseline had lower concentrations of Glu, N-acetylaspartate (NAA), choline- (Cho) and creatine-containing metabolites (Cr) than LD in the ACC, but had normal GABA and myo-inositol (mI) levels. At five weeks of abstinence, metabolite concentrations were not significantly different between groups. Between one and five weeks of abstinence, Glu, NAA and Cho levels in the ACC increased significantly. Higher cortical mI concentrations in ALC related to worse neurocognitive outcome.
These MRS data suggest compromised and regionally specific bioenergetics/metabolism in one-week-abstinent ALC that largely normalizes over four weeks of sustained abstinence. The correlation between mI levels and neurocognition affirms the functional relevance of this putative astrocyte marker.
关于酒精依赖对皮质谷氨酸（Glu）或γ-氨基丁酸（GABA）浓度的影响知之甚少。我们使用质子磁共振波谱（MRS）技术研究了酒精依赖个体（ALC）在戒酒后早期的这些浓度的横截面和纵向变化。
20 名 ALC 在戒酒后约一周（基线）和 36 名 ALC 在戒酒后五周进行了研究，并与 16 名轻度/非饮酒对照（LD）进行了比较。11 名 ALC 在戒酒后进行了两次研究。参与者接受了临床访谈、血液检查、神经心理学测试、结构成像和 4Tesla 单容积质子 MRS。在前扣带回（ACC）、顶枕叶皮层（POC）和背外侧前额叶皮层（DLPFC）中测量了 Glu、GABA 以及其他（1）H MRS 可检测代谢物的绝对浓度。还评估了代谢物水平与饮酒严重程度和神经认知的关系。
基线时，ALC 的 Glu、N-乙酰天冬氨酸（NAA）、胆碱（Cho）和肌醇（mI）代谢物的浓度低于 LD，而 GABA 正常。在戒酒后五周时，两组之间的代谢物浓度没有显著差异。在一到五周的戒断期间，ACC 中的 Glu、NAA 和 Cho 水平显著增加。ALC 皮质中的 mI 浓度越高，神经认知结果越差。
这些 MRS 数据表明，一周戒酒的 ALC 存在能量代谢/代谢受损，且具有区域特异性，在持续戒酒四周后基本恢复正常。mI 水平与神经认知之间的相关性证实了这种潜在的星形胶质细胞标志物的功能相关性。
