Brookhaven Lab: Alcohol, brain-shrink link
Photo credit: Handout | The scientists used MRI data mapped onto an existing atlas of the mouse brain to compare the effects of drinking ethanol and water on brain volume overall and region-by-region in mice with and without dopamine D2 receptors. Alcohol-drinking mice that lacked dopamine receptors had lower overall brain volume and reduced volume in the cerebral cortex (blue) and thalamus (purple) compared with D2 receptor-deficient mice drinking water. Alcohol-drinking mice with dopamine receptors did not show these deficits in response to drinking alcohol, suggesting that dopamine receptors may be protective against the brain atrophy associated with chronic drinking.
Consuming substantial amounts of alcohol shrinks critical brain regions in genetically vulnerable rodents, Brookhaven scientists have found in efforts to further map the biology of addiction in people.
The research by a team of brain experts at Brookhaven National Laboratory in Upton confirms that heavy drinking affects individuals differently. Much of that difference, the experts say, is...
