Department of Adolescent Psychiatry, Kuopio University Hospital, Kuopio, Finland.
Doctoral Programme of Clinical Research, School of Medicine, University of Eastern Finland, Kuopio, Finland.
Addict Biol. 2018 Jan;23(1):268-280. doi: 10.1111/adb.12486. Epub 2016 Dec 23.
Long-term alcohol use affects cognitive and neurophysiological functioning as well as structural brain development. Combining simultaneous electroencephalogram (EEG) recording with transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) enables direct, in vivo exploration of cortical excitability and assessment of effective and functional connectivity. In the central nervous system, the effects of alcohol are particularly mediated by alterations in gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA)ergic neurotransmission, and TMS-evoked potentials (TEPs) N45 and N100 in EEG are known to reflect GABAergic function. However, no previous studies have examined the effects of long-term alcohol use in adolescence on TEPs. In this study, a total of 27 young adults with heavy alcohol use in adolescence and 25 age-matched, gender-matched and education-matched controls with little or no alcohol use participated in TMS-EEG measurements. The motor cortex (M1) was stimulated with an intensity of 90 percent of the resting motor threshold of the abductor pollicis brevis muscle. No significant differences were found in the resting motor threshold, TEP latencies or neuropsychological functioning between the groups. We observed an increase in the global mean field power in the time window of 54- to 75-millisecond post-TMS, as well as significant topographical differences in the P60 and N100 in those with a history of heavy drinking. Furthermore, there was a marked increase in the GABAergic N45 amplitude in alcohol users. These findings suggest that long-term alcohol use in adolescence, even when not meeting the diagnostic criteria for a disorder, is associated with changes in connectivity and cortical excitability.
长期饮酒会影响认知和神经生理功能，以及大脑结构的发育。将脑电图（EEG）记录与经颅磁刺激（TMS）相结合，可以直接在体探索皮质兴奋性，并评估有效和功能连接。在中枢神经系统中，酒精的作用主要通过改变γ-氨基丁酸（GABA）能神经传递来介导，EEG 中的 TMS 诱发电位（TEP）N45 和 N100 被认为反映了 GABA 能功能。然而，以前的研究尚未探讨青少年时期长期饮酒对 TEPs 的影响。在这项研究中，共纳入 27 名青少年时期有大量饮酒史的年轻成年人和 25 名年龄、性别和教育程度匹配的、很少或没有饮酒史的对照组参与者进行 TMS-EEG 测量。用强度为伸拇指短肌静息运动阈值 90%的电流刺激运动皮层（M1）。两组之间静息运动阈值、TEP 潜伏期或神经心理学功能无显著差异。我们观察到在 TMS 后 54-75 毫秒的时间窗内，全局平均场功率增加，以及在有大量饮酒史的个体中 P60 和 N100 的显著的拓扑差异。此外，酒精使用者的 GABA 能 N45 振幅明显增加。这些发现表明，青少年时期的长期饮酒，即使不符合疾病的诊断标准，也与连接和皮质兴奋性的变化有关。
