Bed nucleus of the stria terminalis network responses to unpredictable threat in early alcohol abstinence.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Anxiety during early alcohol abstinence, likely resulting from neural changes caused by chronic alcohol use, contributes to high relapse rates. Studies in rodents show heightened activation during early abstinence in the bed nucleus of the stria terminalis (BNST)-a neural hub for anxiety-and its extended anxiety-related corticolimbic network. Despite the clinical importance of early abstinence, few studies investigate the underlying neural mechanisms.

Methods

To address this gap, we investigated brain function in early alcohol abstinence (EA = 20, 9 women) relative to controls (HC = 20, 11 women) using an unpredictable threat task shown to engage the BNST and corticolimbic brain regions involved in anxiety and alcohol use disorder (AUD). Group, anxiety, and sex we

SUBMITTER: Zabik NL 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11576257 | biostudies-literature | 2024 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature