Department of Neuroscience, Rutgers University/UMDNJ - Robert Wood Johnson Medical School, 683 Hoes Lane, RWJSPH 363, Piscataway, NJ 08854, USA.
Neuroscience. 2012 Nov 8;224:202-9. doi: 10.1016/j.neuroscience.2012.08.018. Epub 2012 Aug 18.
Drinking alcohol in moderation is often considered a health-conscious behavior, associated with improved cardiovascular and brain health. However, "moderate" amounts of alcohol include drinking 3-4 alcohol beverages in a day, which is closer to binge drinking and may do more harm than good. Here we examined how daily drinking of moderate-high alcohol alters the production of new neurons in the adult hippocampus. Male and female adult Sprague-Dawley rats were provided free access to a liquid replacement diet that was supplemented with either 4% ethanol or Maltodextrin for a period of 2 weeks. Proliferating cells were labeled with 5-bromo-2-deoxyuridine (BrdU) and the number of BrdU-positive cells in the hippocampus was assessed after the final day of drinking. A subset of rats was also exposed to a motor skill or associative learning task to examine the functional effects of alcohol consumption. The drinking regime resulted in an average blood alcohol concentration of approximately 0.08%, which is comparable to the human legal driving limit in many countries. This level of intoxication did not impair motor skill learning or function in either sex, nor did the alcohol consumption disrupt associative learning 2 days after drinking. Therefore, moderate alcohol consumption did not disrupt basic sensory, motor or learning processes. However, the number of cells produced in the dentate gyrus of the hippocampus was reduced by nearly 40%. Thus, even moderate consumption of alcohol for a relatively short period of time can have profound effects on structural plasticity in the adult brain.
适量饮酒通常被认为是一种健康意识的行为，与改善心血管和大脑健康有关。然而，“适量”的酒精包括每天饮用 3-4 份含酒精饮料，这更接近狂饮，可能弊大于利。在这里，我们研究了每天饮用中高度酒精如何改变成年海马体中新神经元的产生。雄性和雌性成年 Sprague-Dawley 大鼠可以自由饮用补充有 4%乙醇或麦芽糊精的液体替代饮食，为期 2 周。增殖细胞用 5-溴-2-脱氧尿苷（BrdU）标记，在最后一天饮酒后评估海马体中 BrdU 阳性细胞的数量。一小部分大鼠还暴露于运动技能或联想学习任务中，以检查饮酒对功能的影响。饮酒模式导致平均血液酒精浓度约为 0.08%，这与许多国家的人类法定驾驶限制相当。这种醉酒程度既不会损害两性的运动技能学习或功能，也不会在饮酒后两天破坏联想学习。因此，适量饮酒不会破坏基本的感觉、运动或学习过程。然而，海马齿状回中产生的细胞数量减少了近 40%。因此，即使是短时间内适度饮酒也会对成年大脑的结构可塑性产生深远影响。
