Reduced limbic metabolism and fronto-cortical volume in rats vulnerable to alcohol addiction.

ABSTRACT: Alcohol abuse is associated with long-term reductions in fronto-cortical volume and limbic metabolism. However, an unanswered question in alcohol research is whether these alterations are the sole consequence of chronic alcohol use, or contain heritable contributions reflecting biological propensity toward ethanol addiction. Animal models of genetic predisposition to alcohol dependence can be used to investigate the role of inborn brain abnormalities in the aetiology of alcoholism. Here we used magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) in the Marchigian-Sardinian (msP) alcohol-preferring rats to assess the presence of inherited structural or functional brain alterations. Alcohol-naïve msP (N=22) and control rats (N=26) were subjected to basal cerebral blood volume (bCBV) mapping followed by voxel-b

SUBMITTER: Gozzi A 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4108793 | biostudies-literature | 2013 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature