scholarly journals A cortical-brainstem circuit predicts and governs compulsive alcohol drinking

Science ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 366 (6468) ◽  
pp. 1008-1012 ◽  
Author(s):  
Cody A. Siciliano ◽  
Habiba Noamany ◽  
Chia-Jung Chang ◽  
Alex R. Brown ◽  
Xinhong Chen ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Individual Differences ◽  
Alcohol Consumption ◽  
Binge Drinking ◽  
Neural Activity ◽  
Alcohol Drinking ◽  
Cortical Neurons ◽  
Activity Patterns ◽  
Mechanistic Explanation ◽  
Male Mice ◽  
Latent Traits

What individual differences in neural activity predict the future escalation of alcohol drinking from casual to compulsive? The neurobiological mechanisms that gate the transition from moderate to compulsive drinking remain poorly understood. We longitudinally tracked the development of compulsive drinking across a binge-drinking experience in male mice. Binge drinking unmasked individual differences, revealing latent traits in alcohol consumption and compulsive drinking despite equal prior exposure to alcohol. Distinct neural activity signatures of cortical neurons projecting to the brainstem before binge drinking predicted the ultimate emergence of compulsivity. Mimicry of activity patterns that predicted drinking phenotypes was sufficient to bidirectionally modulate drinking. Our results provide a mechanistic explanation for individual variance in vulnerability to compulsive alcohol drinking.

scholarly journals Encoding of the Intent to Drink Alcohol by the Prefrontal Cortex is blunted in Rats with a Family History of Excessive Drinking

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
David N. Linsenbardt ◽  
Nicholas M. Timme ◽  
Christopher C. Lapish
Keyword(s):  
Prefrontal Cortex ◽  
Neural Activity ◽  
Alcohol Drinking ◽  
Wistar Rats ◽  
Alcohol Intake ◽  
Activity Patterns ◽  
Excessive Drinking ◽  
Lack Of Control ◽  
History Of ◽  
Excessive Alcohol

The prefrontal cortex plays a central role in guiding decision-making, and its function is altered by alcohol use and an individual’s innate risk for excessive alcohol drinking. The primary goal of this work was to determine how neural activity in the prefrontal cortex guides the decision to drink. Towards this goal, the within-session changes in neural activity were measured from medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) of rats performing a drinking procedure that allowed them to consume or abstain from alcohol in a self-paced manner. Recordings were obtained from rats that either lacked or expressed an innate risk for excessive alcohol intake - Wistar or Alcohol Preferring ‘P’ rats, respectively. Wistar rats exhibited patterns of neural activity consistent with the intention to drink or abstain from drinking, whereas these patterns were blunted or absent in P rats. Collectively, these data indicate that neural activity patterns in mPFC associated with the intention to drink alcohol are influenced by innate risk for excessive alcohol drinking. This observation may indicate a lack of control over the decision to drink by this otherwise well-validated supervisory brain region.

Risk Behaviours for Traffic Accidents in 18-20 Years Young People Travelling with Drunk Driver of Timis County, Romania

2018 ◽  
Vol 69 (3) ◽  
pp. 703-706
Author(s):  
Cristina Pantea ◽  
Razvan Horhat ◽  
Salomeia Putnoky ◽  
Oana Suciu ◽  
Ioana Tuta Sas ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Alcohol Consumption ◽  
Young People ◽  
Binge Drinking ◽  
Population Study ◽  
Traffic Accidents ◽  
Study Group ◽  
Risk Behaviours ◽  
Alcohol And Drugs ◽  
Young Subjects ◽  
Drunk Driver

The present research aimed to assess some predictors for experiencing traveling in a car with a driver who has consumed alcohol, in a group of young people, aged between 18 and 20 years, residents of Timis County, Romania. The study group of 1606 young subjects, 18-20 years of age, 51.4% pupils and 48.6% students, with girls being significantly better represented, was applied a transversal population study. Percents of 29.8% of boys and 28.4% of girls got 1-3 times in a car with a drunk driver, and 10.1% of boys and 6.5% of girls traveled in such circumstances more than 4 times. Boys tend to accept the risks of traveling in a car with a drunk driver significantly more frequently than girls. We identified some predictors for traveling with a driver who has consumed alcohol, such as the binge drinking model and the model of mixed alcohol and drugs consumption, the practice of alcohol consumption associated with vehicle driving by the father, as well as by friends.

Effect of the Covid-19 Italian lockdown on human health: the analysis of alcohol consumption for aware quarantine (Preprint)

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chiara Mazzarella ◽  
Annamaria Spina ◽  
Marcello Dallio ◽  
Antonietta Gerarda Gravina ◽  
Mario Romeo ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Alcohol Consumption ◽  
Alcohol Abuse ◽  
Psychosocial Factors ◽  
Alcohol Drinking ◽  
Psychosocial Support ◽  
Human Life ◽  
Stressful Event ◽  
Drinking Behaviour ◽  
Drinking Habits ◽  
Specific Subset

BACKGROUND Italy has been one of the first western countries seriously involved in the COVID-19 pandemic in the first months of 2020 and so that the national government was forced to impose a long lockdown period, stopping all the people aggregation outdoor and indoor activities. From a social point of view this period of domestic confinement resulted in deep changes of behaviours and lifestyles, promoting in many people the onset of psychological symptoms and signs (including anxiety, depression, insomnia, and irritability among others) already known as associated with drug and alcohol abuse OBJECTIVE this study aims to assess the variation of alcohol drinking habits in a sample of Italian citizens during the COVID-19 lockdown and to identify the psychosocial factors surrounding it, in order to assess the specific subset of the population that could need psychosocial support during these events METHODS An online anonymous questionnaire was created and submitted from 9th April 2020 to 28th April 2020 using social medias and e-mails. Questions were related to personal details such as age, work, instruction, and, moreover, to alcohol drinking habits during the lockdown, including Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test (AUDIT C) test questions RESULTS A total of 1234 surveys were filled out by subjects with an age range from 18 to 80 years old. An increase in both anxiety and fear has been detected in most of the participants (63% and 61% respectively) with a direct (r=0.652; p<0.001) relationship between them. Participants older than 50 years showed the strongest correlation between alcohol consumption, fear, and anxiety, (r=0.830, P <0.001 and r=0.741, P<0.001, respectively). Subjects living alone experienced a stronger association between anxiety, fear, and higher level of alcohol consumption (r: 0.529; P<0.001; r: 0.628, P<0.001 respectively). Moreover, 18% of participants increased alcohol consumption drinking during the lockdown. These subjects showed a lower frequency of alcohol consumption before the lockdown in comparison to the rest of the study population (2.5±0.96 vs 3±1.03, P<0.0001 respectively). Moreover, comparing the abovementioned groups, the percentage of subjects who experienced higher alcohol assumption before the 11th of March was higher in those that didn't change their drinking behaviour during the lockdown in comparison to that portion of them that experienced a worsening of alcohol abuse (r: 30.422, P<0.0001) CONCLUSIONS according to these data, during the Italian lockdown due to COVID 19 pandemic, different kind of people experienced an increase in alcohol drinking. Several psychosocial factors are involved in determining the increase in harmful alcohol consumption during this extraordinary stressful event and they must be addressed by the healthcare support in order to avoid awful lockdown impact on human life

scholarly journals Association between alcohol consumption status and obesity-related comorbidities in men: data from the 2016 Korean community health survey

2021 ◽  
Vol 21 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Bo-Yeon Kim ◽  
Hyewon Nam ◽  
Jeong-Ju Yoo ◽  
Yoon-Young Cho ◽  
Dug-Hyun Choi ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Alcohol Consumption ◽  
Binge Drinking ◽  
Community Health ◽  
Health Survey ◽  
High Alcohol ◽  
High Alcohol Consumption ◽  
Community Health Survey ◽  
Alcoholic Drinks ◽  
Binge Drinkers ◽  
Obesity Hypertension

Abstract Background This study was performed to investigate the association between the amount of alcohol consumption or binge drinking and obesity-related comorbidities in Korean men. Methods A total of 103,048 men aged 19 years or older were investigated in the 2016 Korean Community Health Survey. The participants were divided into five groups according to the standard number of alcoholic drinks consumed per week. Results Of the total participants, 20.7% were in the high alcohol consumption group, consuming more than 28 drinks per week. After adjustment for clinical factors, high alcohol consumption was significantly associated with higher odds ratios (ORs) of obesity (OR, 1.449; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.412 to 1.591; P < 0.0001), hypertension (OR, 1.76; 95% CI, 1.636 to 1.894; P < 0.0001), and dyslipidemia (OR, 1.356; 95% CI, 1.247 to 1.474; P < 0.0001). In contrast, mild to moderate alcohol consumption was associated with a lower risk of diabetes (OR, 0.799; 95% CI, 0.726 to 0.88; P = 0.0015) and high alcohol consumption was not associated with a higher risk of diabetes (OR, 0.945; 95% CI, 0.86 to 1.039; P = 0.0662). Among drinkers, except for social drinkers, binge drinking was significantly associated with higher risks of obesity, hypertension, diabetes, and dyslipidemia. Conclusions High alcohol consumption was associated with higher risks of obesity, hypertension, and dyslipidemia in Korean men. In contrast, high consumption was not associated with a higher risk of diabetes. In particular, binge drinkers were associated with higher risks of obesity, hypertension, diabetes, and dyslipidemia compared to non-binge drinkers.

scholarly journals Association of Alcohol Drinking Patterns with Metabolic Syndrome and Its Components in Korean Adults: The Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey 2016–2018

2021 ◽  
Vol 18 (12) ◽  
pp. 6433
Author(s):  
Seung Won Lee ◽  
Sung-In Jang
Keyword(s):  
Metabolic Syndrome ◽  
Binge Drinking ◽  
Alcohol Drinking ◽  
Hdl Cholesterol ◽  
Cross Sectional Study ◽  
Drinking Patterns ◽  
Cross Sectional ◽  
Korean Adults ◽  
Alcohol Drinking Patterns ◽  
Drinking Frequency

This study examined the association of alcohol drinking patterns with metabolic syndrome (MetS) and its components in a nationally representative sample of South Korean adults. The cross-sectional study included 12,830 current drinkers (6438 men and 6392 women) who were at least 20 years old. Measures of alcohol drinking patterns included average drinking frequency, usual quantity, and binge drinking frequency over the past year. Multivariate logistic regression was performed to estimate odds ratios and 95% confidence intervals for MetS and its components according to alcohol drinking patterns, and also to examine linear trends in these relationships. The prevalence of MetS was 1822 (26.2%) in men and 1313 (17.5%) in women. After adjusting for potential confounding factors, drinking quantity and binge drinking frequency were positively associated with MetS in both sexes. Regarding components of MetS, while the risk of low HDL cholesterol decreased as drinking frequency increased, other MetS components (abdominal obesity, high blood pressure, and impaired fasting glucose) worsened. Our results suggest that separate management of each component of MetS will be required to protect cardio-metabolic health, and a healthy drinking culture that refrains from binge drinking should be established in the context of public health.

scholarly journals Central role of G protein Gαi2 and Gαi2+ vomeronasal neurons in balancing territorial and infant-directed aggression of male mice

2019 ◽  
Vol 116 (11) ◽  
pp. 5135-5143 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anne-Charlotte Trouillet ◽  
Matthieu Keller ◽  
Jan Weiss ◽  
Trese Leinders-Zufall ◽  
Lutz Birnbaumer ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
G Protein ◽  
Sensory Neurons ◽  
Neural Activity ◽  
Parental Behavior ◽  
Vomeronasal Organ ◽  
Male Infant ◽  
Lateral Septum ◽  
Male Mice ◽  
Protein Subunit ◽  
Α Subunit

Aggression is controlled by the olfactory system in many animal species. In male mice, territorial and infant-directed aggression are tightly regulated by the vomeronasal organ (VNO), but how diverse subsets of sensory neurons convey pheromonal information to limbic centers is not yet known. Here, we employ genetic strategies to show that mouse vomeronasal sensory neurons expressing the G protein subunit Gαi2 regulate male–male and infant-directed aggression through distinct circuit mechanisms. Conditional ablation of Gαi2 enhances male–male aggression and increases neural activity in the medial amygdala (MeA), bed nucleus of the stria terminalis, and lateral septum. By contrast, conditional Gαi2 ablation causes reduced infant-directed aggression and decreased activity in MeA neurons during male–infant interactions. Strikingly, these mice also display enhanced parental behavior and elevated neural activity in the medial preoptic area, whereas sexual behavior remains normal. These results identify Gαi2 as the primary G protein α-subunit mediating the detection of volatile chemosignals in the apical layer of the VNO, and they show that Gαi2+ VSNs and the brain circuits activated by these neurons play a central role in orchestrating and balancing territorial and infant-directed aggression of male mice through bidirectional activation and inhibition of different targets in the limbic system.

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