Zhang Gengbiao, Liu Hongkun, Zheng Hongyi, Li Ni, Kong Lingmei, Zheng Wenbin
Department of Radiology, The Second Affiliated Hospital, Shantou University Medical College, Shantou, China.
The Family Medicine Branch, Department of Radiology, The First Affiliated Hospital, Shantou University Medical College, Shantou, China.
Front Hum Neurosci. 2022 Sep 26;16:985986. doi: 10.3389/fnhum.2022.985986. eCollection 2022.
Alcohol consumption could lead to a series of health problems and social issues. In the current study, we investigated the resting-state functional brain networks of healthy volunteers before and after drinking through graph-theory analysis, aiming to ascertain the effects of acute alcohol intake on topology and information processing mode of the functional brain networks.
Thirty-three healthy volunteers were enrolled in this experiment. Each volunteer accepted alcohol breathalyzer tests followed by resting-state magnetic resonance imaging at three time points: before drinking, 0.5 h after drinking, and 1 h after drinking. The data obtained were grouped based on scanning time into control group, 0.5-h group and 1-h group, and post-drinking data were regrouped according to breath alcohol concentration (BrAC) into relative low BrAC group (A group; 0.5-h data, = 17; 1-h data, = 16) and relative high BrAC group (B group; 0.5-h data, = 16; 1-h data, = 17). The graph-theory approach was adopted to construct whole-brain functional networks and identify the differences of network topological properties among all the groups.
The network topology of most groups was altered after drinking, with the B group presenting the most alterations. For global network measures, B group exhibited increased global efficiency, Synchronization, and decreased local efficiency, clustering coefficient, normalized clustering coefficient, characteristic path length, normalized characteristic path length, as compared to control group. Regarding nodal network measures, nodal clustering coefficient and nodal local efficiency of some nodes were lower in B group than control group. These changes suggested that the network integration ability and synchrony improved, while the segregation ability diminished.
This study revealed the effects of acute alcohol intake on the topology and information processing mode of resting-state functional brain networks, providing new perceptions and insights into the effects of alcohol on the brain.
饮酒会导致一系列健康问题和社会问题。在本研究中，我们通过图论分析研究了健康志愿者饮酒前后的静息态功能脑网络，旨在确定急性酒精摄入对功能脑网络拓扑结构和信息处理模式的影响。
33名健康志愿者参与了本实验。每位志愿者在三个时间点接受酒精呼气测试，随后进行静息态磁共振成像：饮酒前、饮酒后0.5小时和饮酒后1小时。根据扫描时间将获得的数据分为对照组、0.5小时组和1小时组，并根据呼气酒精浓度（BrAC）将饮酒后数据重新分组为相对低BrAC组（A组；0.5小时数据，n = 17；1小时数据，n = 16）和相对高BrAC组（B组；0.5小时数据，n = 16；1小时数据，n = 17）。采用图论方法构建全脑功能网络，并识别所有组之间网络拓扑性质的差异。
大多数组饮酒后的网络拓扑结构发生了改变，B组的改变最为明显。对于全局网络指标而言，与对照组相比，B组的全局效率、同步性增加，而局部效率、聚类系数、标准化聚类系数、特征路径长度以及标准化特征路径长度降低。关于节点网络指标，B组中一些节点的节点聚类系数和节点局部效率低于对照组。这些变化表明网络整合能力和同步性提高，而分离能力减弱。
本研究揭示了急性酒精摄入对静息态功能脑网络拓扑结构和信息处理模式的影响，为酒精对大脑的影响提供了新的认识和见解。
