Department of Psychological Sciences, Auburn University, Auburn, AL, USA.
Department of Biobehavioral Health, Penn State University, State College, PA, USA.
Neuropsychopharmacology. 2023 Dec;48(13):1968-1974. doi: 10.1038/s41386-023-01735-9. Epub 2023 Sep 16.
Neuroendocrine tolerance to alcohol, i.e., a blunted cortisol response to alcohol, has been linked to Ventromedial Prefrontal Cortex (VmPFC) alcohol cue reactivity and relapse risk in severe Alcohol Use Disorders (AUDs), but its role in the development of AUDs is not clear. Recent work suggests that blunted cortisol responses to alcohol cues in individuals who engage in binge drinking (BD) may play a role in motivation to consume larger amounts of alcohol, but the link between this dysregulated endocrine response and BD's neural responses to alcohol cues remains unclear. To examine this, two groups of participants were recruited based on their recent drinking history. Thirty-three BD and 31 non-binging, social drinkers (SD) were exposed to alcohol cues and water cues in two separate 7 T functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) scans. Each scan was followed by the Alcohol Taste Test (ATT) of implicit motivation for alcohol and a post-experiment, one-month prospective measurement of their "real world" drinking behavior. During each scan session, blood plasma was collected repeatedly to examine the separate effects of alcohol cues and alcohol consumption on cortisol levels. Relative to water cues and SD, BD demonstrated blunted cortisol cue reactivity that was negatively associated with VmPFC cue reactivity. In BD, both blunted cortisol and greater VmPFC cue reactivity were related to immediate and future alcohol consumption in the month following the scans. Thus, neuroendocrine tolerance in BD may be associated with increased incentive salience of cues and contribute mechanistically to increased alcohol consumption seen in the development of AUDs.
酒精所致神经内分泌耐受，即皮质醇对酒精反应迟钝，与中前额叶皮层（vmPFC）对酒精线索的反应性和重度酒精使用障碍（AUD）的复发风险有关，但它在 AUD 发展中的作用尚不清楚。最近的研究表明，在 binge drinking（BD）者中，皮质醇对酒精线索的反应迟钝可能与更大饮酒量的动机有关，但这种内分泌失调反应与 BD 对酒精线索的神经反应之间的联系尚不清楚。为了研究这一点，根据最近的饮酒史招募了两组参与者。33 名 binge drinking（BD）者和 31 名非 binge drinking（SD）社交饮酒者在两次单独的 7T 功能磁共振成像（fMRI）扫描中暴露于酒精线索和水线索。每次扫描后，参与者都要进行酒精味觉测试（ATT），以测试他们对酒精的内隐动机，以及在实验结束后一个月对他们“真实世界”饮酒行为的前瞻性测量。在每次扫描过程中，反复采集血样以检查酒精线索和酒精摄入对皮质醇水平的单独影响。与水线索和 SD 相比，BD 表现出皮质醇线索反应迟钝，与 vmPFC 线索反应性呈负相关。在 BD 中，皮质醇反应迟钝和 vmPFC 线索反应性增加均与扫描后一个月内的即时和未来饮酒量有关。因此，BD 中的神经内分泌耐受可能与线索的激励价值增加有关，并在 AUD 发展过程中导致饮酒量增加。
