scholarly journals Corticostriatal oscillations predict high vs. low drinkers in a preclinical model of limited access alcohol consumption

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Angela M. Henricks ◽  
Lucas L. Dwiel ◽  
Nicholas H. Deveau ◽  
Amanda A. Simon ◽  
Metztli J. Ruiz-Jaquez ◽  
...  

AbstractIndividuals differ in their vulnerability to develop alcohol dependence that are determined by innate and environmental factors. The corticostriatal circuit is heavily involved in the development of alcohol dependence and may contain neural information regarding vulnerability to drink excessively. In the current experiment, we hypothesized that we could characterize high and low alcohol-drinking rats (HD and LD, respectively) based on corticostriatal oscillations, and that these subgroups would differentially respond to corticostriatal brain stimulation. Rats were trained to drink 10% alcohol in a limited access paradigm. In separate sessions, local field potentials (LFPs) were recorded from the nucleus accumbens shell (NAcSh) and medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) of male Sprague-Dawley rats (n=13). Based on training alcohol consumption levels, we classified rats using a median split as HD or LD. Then, using machine-learning, we built predictive models to classify rats as HD or LD by corticostriatal LFPs and compared the model performance from real data to the performance of models built on data permutations. Additionally, we explored the impact of NAcSh or mPFC stimulation on alcohol consumption in HD vs. LD. Corticostriatal LFPs were able predict HD vs. LD group classification with greater accuracy than expected by chance (>80% accuracy). Additionally, NAcSh stimulation significantly reduced alcohol consumption in HD, but not LD (p<0.05), while mPFC stimulation did not alter drinking behavior in either HD or LD (p>0.05). These data collectively show that the corticostriatal circuit is differentially involved in regulating alcohol intake in HD vs. LD rats, and suggests that corticostriatal activity may have the potential to predict a vulnerability to develop alcohol dependence in a clinical population.

2003 ◽  
Vol 20 (2-3) ◽  
pp. 101-111
Author(s):  
Anders Romelsjö ◽  
Robin Room ◽  
Elisabeth Ellström

Several studies have been done on the prevalence of the alcohol dependence syndrome, while other studies have focused on whether the dependence syndrome can be seen as a unity, or not. Few studies have analysed the association between alcohol consumption, the alcohol dependence syndrome (ADS) and alcohol-related problems. A main issue is to what extent an association between alcohol consumption and problems is explained by the dependence syndrome or by its sub-components (drinking despite a health problem, craving, impaired control, preoccupation with alcohol, withdrawal symptoms and increased tolerance). The purpose in this paper is to elucidate this issue in analyses of data from the health care-based clinical sample of the study “Women and Men in Swedish Addiction Treatment”, comprising comprehensive interviews of almost 1000 inpatients and outpatients in Stockholm County. These data cover e.g. alcohol and drug use, alcohol dependence (ICD-10) measured by the Composite International Diagnostic Interview (CIDI), the composite-scores part of the Addiction Severity Index (ASI), sociodemographics and alcohol-related problems. Three measures of alcohol-related problems were constructed covering health and psychological problems, self-defined social problems, and social problems defined by others. In these exploratory analyses of patients with alcohol dependence as a dominating problem, a series of logistic regression analyses were done. A substantial part of the association between the consumption measures and the three outcomes could be accounted for by measures of the ADS. The predictive power of the six criteria composing the ADS varied considerably for the different outcomes. The interpretation is not straightforward, not least as the alcohol dependence syndrome also includes items of alcohol-related problems.


2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gladys A. Shaw ◽  
Maria Alexis M. Bent ◽  
Kimaya R. Council ◽  
A. Christian Pais ◽  
Ananda Amstadter ◽  
...  

AbstractBackgroundTrauma related psychiatric disorders, such as posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and alcohol use disorder (AUD) are highly comorbid illnesses that separately present an opposing, sex-specific pattern, with increased prevalence of PTSD in females and increased prevalence of AUD diagnoses in males. Likewise, PTSD is a risk factor in the development of AUD, with conflicting data on the impact of sex in the comorbid development of both disorders. Because the likelihood of experiencing more than one traumatic event is high, we aim to utilize chronic repeated predatory stress (CRPS) to query the extent to which sex interacts with CRPS to influence alcohol consumption, or cessation of consumption.MethodsMale (n=16) and female (n=15) C57BL/6J mice underwent CRPS or daily handling for two weeks during adolescence (P35-P49) and two weeks during adulthood (P65-P79). Following the conclusion of two rounds of repeated stress, behavior was assessed in the open field. Mice subsequently underwent a two-bottle choice intermittent ethanol access (IEA) assessment (P90-131) with the options of 20% ethanol or water. After establishing drinking behavior, increasing concentrations of quinine were added to the ethanol to assess the drinking response to adulteration of the alcohol.ResultsCRPS increased fecal corticosterone concentrations and anxiety-like behaviors in the open field in both male and female mice as compared to control mice that had not been exposed to CRPS. Consistent with previous reports, we observed a sex difference in alcohol consumption such that females consumed more ethanol per gram of body mass than males. In addition, CRPS reduced alcohol aversion in male mice such that higher concentrations of quinine were necessary to reduce alcohol intake as compared to control mice. CRPS did not alter alcohol-related behaviors in female mice.ConclusionCollectively, we demonstrate that repeated CRPS can induce anxiety-like behavior in both sexes but selectively influences the response to ethanol adulteration in males.


Author(s):  
Zili Zhang ◽  
Rong Zheng

(1) Background: Many studies have shown that increasing taxation on cigarettes does play a role in tobacco control, but few studies have focused on whether increasing cigarette excise taxes significantly affects alcohol consumption. In this article, we aim to examine the effects of China’s 2015 increase in the cigarette excise tax on residents’ regular drinking behavior. (2) Methods: Using survey data from China Family Panel Studies (CFPS), we performed a panel logit regression analysis to model the relationship between the cigarette excise tax and regular drinking behavior. The Propensity Score Matching with Difference-in-Differences (PSM-DID) approach was adopted to determine the extent to which the cigarette excise tax affected residents’ drinking behavior. To test whether the cigarette excise tax could change regular drinking behavior by decreasing daily smoking quantity, we used an interaction term model. (3) Results: China’s 2015 increase in the cigarette excise tax had a significant negative effect on the probability of regular alcohol consumption among smokers, and the cigarette excise tax worked by reducing the average daily smoking of smokers. We also found that the regular drinking behavior of male smokers was more deeply affected by the increased cigarette excise tax than females. (4) Conclusions: Our research results not only give a deeper understanding of the impact of the cigarette excise tax, but also provide an important reference with which to guide future decisions concerning excise taxes imposed on cigarettes.


2021 ◽  
Vol 9 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christine Wolter ◽  
Tino Lesener ◽  
Tobias Alexander Thomas ◽  
Alicia-Carolin Hentschel ◽  
Burkhard Gusy

Introduction: Heavy alcohol consumption constitutes a major health risk among University students. Social relationships with peers strongly affect University students' perception of the drinking behavior of others, which in turn plays a crucial role in determining their own alcohol intake. University students tend to overestimate their peers' alcohol consumption – a belief that is associated with an increase in an individual's own consumption. Therefore, we implemented a social norms intervention with personalized normative feedback at a major University in Germany to reduce and prevent excessive drinking among University students.Methods: Our intervention was part of a regular health monitoring survey. We invited all enrolled University students to take part in this survey on two occasions. A total of 862 University students completed the questionnaire, 563 (65.3%) of which received e-mail-based feedback upon request concerning their peers' and their own alcohol consumption. For the intervention group (n = 190) as well as the control group (no feedback requested; n = 101), we included only University students in the evaluation who overestimated their peers' alcohol use and indicated above average consumption of the peers. We applied analyses of variance to assess intervention effects with regard to the correction of overestimated group norms as well as University students' drinking behavior.Results: Within the intervention group, we observed a significantly larger reduction of the previously overestimated behavioral norms compared to the control group (p &lt; 0.001; ηp2 = 0.06). With regard to behavioral outcomes the intervention group showed a significantly larger reduction in the AUDIT-C score (p = 0.020; ηp2 = 0.03).Discussion: Our study confirms previous research whereupon personalized, gender-specific and selective normative feedback is effective for alcohol prevention among University students. However, University students still overestimated their peers' alcohol intake after the intervention. Furthermore, we did not reach high-risk groups (University students with the highest alcohol intake) since no feedback was requested. Future studies should address factors influencing the impact of the intervention and reachability of selective groups.


Author(s):  
Margarida Vasconcelos ◽  
Alberto Crego ◽  
Rui Rodrigues ◽  
Natália Almeida-Antunes ◽  
Eduardo López-Caneda

To “flatten the curve” of COVID-19 contagion, several countries ordered lockdowns amid the pandemic along with indications on social distancing. These social isolation measures could potentially bring alterations to healthy behavior, including to alcohol consumption. However, there is hardly any scientific evidence of the impact of such measures on alcohol consumption and binge drinking (BD) among young adults, and how they relate to alcohol craving, stress, anxiety, and depression levels. We addressed these questions by conducting a longitudinal study with 146 Portuguese college students—regular binge drinkers (regular BDs), infrequent binge drinkers (infrequent BDs) and non-binge drinkers (non-BDs)—in three moments: before the pandemic (Pre-Lockdown), during lockdown (Lockdown) and 6 months after (Post-Lockdown). Results revealed that regular BDs decreased alcohol use during Lockdown, a change in behavior that was even greater during Post-Lockdown, when regular BDs displayed similar levels of consumption to infrequent/non-BDs. Additionally, alcohol craving and living with friends were predictive of alcohol use during Lockdown, whereas stress, anxiety, and depression symptoms did not contribute to explain changes in drinking behavior. Collectively, the results suggest that BD in young Portuguese college students can be stopped when the contexts in which alcohol intake usually takes place are suppressed, which may have important implications for future prevention and intervention strategies.


2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Yoichi Sutoh ◽  
Tsuyoshi Hachiya ◽  
Yuji Suzuki ◽  
Shohei Komaki ◽  
Hideki Ohmomo ◽  
...  

Abstract Liver tests (LT), especially to measure AST, ALT and GGT levels, are widely used to evaluate the risk of alcohol-related liver disease (ALD). In this study, we investigated the potential genetic factors that modulate the association between LTs and alcohol consumption. We conducted a genome-wide interaction meta-analysis in 7856 Japanese subjects from Tohoku Medical Megabank Community-Based Cohort (TMM CommCohort) study recruited in 2013, and identified 2 loci (12q24 and 2p16) with genome-wide significance (P > 5 × 10–8). The significant variants in the 12q24 included rs671, a variant associated with alcohol intolerance and located at a coding exon of ALDH2. We found that the amount of alcohol consumption was associated with increased level AST/ALT ratio among the subjects with the rs671 GA genotype. The elevated AST/ALT ratio among subjects with moderate-to-high levels of drinking behavior and the rs671 GA genotype was due to decreased levels of ALT, which was not accompanied with significant differences in AST levels. Although the interaction effect was significant in both men and women, the effect was much larger in men. Our results suggest that the impact of alcohol consumption on LT varies according to the ALDH2 genotype, providing an insight for the accurate screening of ALD in drinkers with the rs671 GA genotype.


2020 ◽  
Vol 11 ◽  
Author(s):  
Priscila Dib Gonçalves ◽  
Helena Ferreira Moura ◽  
Ricardo Abrantes do Amaral ◽  
João Maurício Castaldelli-Maia ◽  
André Malbergier

The enormous health and economic challenges precipitated by the 2019 coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic are comparable or even greater than those associated with previous historical world crises. Alcohol use, especially drinking to cope with stress, is a concern, as an increase in its sales has been reported in some countries during the quarantine. This study aims to provide a better understanding of what to expect in terms of alcohol consumption, risk factors for excessive use, and its potential consequences during this pandemic based on previous experiences. We investigated how traumatic events related to alcohol consumption. Studies on mass traumatic events (i.e., terrorism as 9/11), epidemic outbreaks (i.e., severe acute respiratory syndrome [SARS] in 2003), economic crises (such as 2008's Great Recession), and COVID-19 were selected. The main keywords used to select the studies were alcohol use, drinking patterns, alcohol use disorders, and alcohol-related consequences. Previous studies reported increases in alcohol use associated with those events mediated, at least partially, by anxiety and depressive symptoms, and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Being male, young, and single also seems to be associated with a higher vulnerability to develop risky drinking behavior after those tragic events. The discussion of previous risk and protective factors can contribute to elaborate more specific public health policies to mitigate the impact of the current pandemic on people's mental health, especially alcohol-related problems.


Crisis ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 37 (3) ◽  
pp. 232-235 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christopher R. DeCou ◽  
Monica C. Skewes

Abstract. Background: Previous research has demonstrated an association between alcohol-related problems and suicidal ideation (SI). Aims: The present study evaluated, simultaneously, alcohol consequences and symptoms of alcohol dependence as predictors of SI after adjusting for depressive symptoms and alcohol consumption. Method: A sample of 298 Alaskan undergraduates completed survey measures, including the Young Adult Alcohol Consequences Questionnaire, the Short Alcohol Dependence Data Questionnaire, and the Beck Depression Inventory – II. The association between alcohol problems and SI status was evaluated using sequential logistic regression. Results: Symptoms of alcohol dependence (OR = 1.88, p < .05), but not alcohol-related consequences (OR = 1.01, p = .95), emerged as an independent predictor of SI status above and beyond depressive symptoms (OR = 2.39, p < .001) and alcohol consumption (OR = 1.08, p = .39). Conclusion: Alcohol dependence symptoms represented a unique risk for SI relative to alcohol-related consequences and alcohol consumption. Future research should examine the causal mechanism behind the relationship between alcohol dependence and suicidality among university students. Assessing the presence of dependence symptoms may improve the accuracy of identifying students at risk of SI.


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