Degeneration of anterior thalamic nuclei differentiates alcoholics with amnesia
Degeneration of anterior thalamic nuclei differentiates alcoholics with amnesia
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DOI：
10.1093/brain/123.1.141
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发表时间：
2000-01-01
期刊：
影响因子：
14.5
通讯作者：
Kril, J
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Harding, A;Halliday, G;Kril, J
在酒精性Korsakoff精神病中，由于在许多非健忘性酒精患者中发现了相当大的脑损伤，特别是那些患有Wernicke脑病的患者，潜在的特定神经底物被很难确定。使用操作标准来识别有和没有Korsakoff精神病的酒精者，我们已经证明，在健忘症和非健忘性酒精患者中，参与编码和提取情景记忆的许多皮质和皮质下区域要么没有受到影响(海马体)，要么受到相同程度的损害(前额叶皮质和胆碱能基底前脑)。在本研究中，我们分析了涉及情景记忆的间脑区域，以确定所观察到的酒精性Korsakoff精神病的神经底物采用无偏体视学技术对下丘脑乳头状核、丘脑前核和内侧核连续切片中神经元的数量进行了估计。在非遗忘型和遗忘型酒精性韦尼克脑病患者中，下丘脑乳头状核团和丘脑背内侧核均有明显的神经元变性，但丘脑前部核团的神经元丢失仅见于酒精性Korsakoff精神病，这是酒精性Korsakoff精神病中首次发现的分化性损害，支持了先前的证据，即丘脑中继器的变性在这种记忆障碍中起重要作用。
The specific neural substrate underlying the amnesia in alcoholic Korsakoff's psychosis is poorly defined because of the considerable brain damage found in many non-amnesic alcoholics, particularly those with Wernicke's encephalopathy, Using operational criteria to identify alcoholics with and without Korsakoff's psychosis, we have shown that many of the cortical and subcortical regions involved in the encoding and retrieval of episodic memory are either unaffected (hippocampus) or damaged to the same extent (prefrontal cortex and the cholinergic basal forebrain) in both amnesic and non-amnesic alcoholics, In the present study we analysed the diencephalic regions involved in episodic memory to determine the neural substrate for the amnesia observed alcoholic Korsakoff's psychosis, The number of neurons in spaced serial sections containing the hypothalamic mamillary nuclei and the anterior and mediodorsal thalamic nuclei was estimated using unbiased stereological techniques. Neurodegeneration of the hypothalamic mamillary nuclei and the mediodorsal thalamic nuclei was substantial in both non-amnesic and amnesic alcoholics with Wernicke's encephalopathy, However, neuronal loss in the anterior thalamic nuclei was found consistently only in alcoholic Korsakoff's psychosis, This is the first demonstration of a differentiating lesion in alcoholic Korsakoff's psychosis and supports previous evidence that degeneration of thalamic relays are important in this memory disorder.