Matthews D B, Simson P E, Best P J
Department of Psychology, Miami University, Oxford, Ohio 45056, USA.
Alcohol Clin Exp Res. 1996 Apr;20(2):404-7. doi: 10.1111/j.1530-0277.1996.tb01660.x.
This study describes a new mechanism by which ethanol alters brain function and may impair performance on tasks requiring spatial navigation. Recording electrophysiological activity from single neurons in the awake, freely behaving animal, the present study shows that ethanol impairs the ability of place cells in the hippocampus to process spatial information. The impairment by ethanol in spatial processing of place cells was remarkably similar to the impairment produced by lesions of afferents to the hippocampus, except that the effect of ethanol was reversible. Since lesions to hippocampal afferents that alter spatial processing of place cells concomitantly impair spatial navigation, the present results suggest that ethanol similarly impairs spatial navigation by altering spatial processing of place cells. The present results have implications for the observation that ethanol impairs performance on navigational tasks that require spatial processing, such as automobile driving.
本研究描述了乙醇改变大脑功能的一种新机制，这种机制可能会损害需要空间导航的任务的表现。通过记录清醒、自由活动动物单个神经元的电生理活动，本研究表明，乙醇会损害海马体中位置细胞处理空间信息的能力。乙醇对位置细胞空间处理的损害与海马体传入神经损伤所产生的损害非常相似，只是乙醇的影响是可逆的。由于改变位置细胞空间处理的海马体传入神经损伤会同时损害空间导航，因此本研究结果表明，乙醇同样通过改变位置细胞的空间处理来损害空间导航。本研究结果对乙醇会损害需要空间处理的导航任务（如汽车驾驶）的表现这一观察结果具有启示意义。
