EFFECTS OF ALCOHOL ABUSE ON THE AGING BRAIN

描述：（改编自研究者摘要） 拟议的研究是测试两个相反的模型，为什么中枢神经系统的发病率，由于 对酒精滥用最大的是中老年人酗酒。普遍接受的 与年龄有关的脆弱性模型假定老年人的脆弱性更大 大脑对酒精的毒性作用。另一种模式，累积 影响模型，假设滥用饮酒的持续时间和数量 （不管它发生在生命周期的什么时候）和衰老过程， 只有老年酗酒者中枢神经系统发病率更高的潜在因素。在 累积效应模型，年轻的大脑能够补偿 酒精滥用/依赖造成的损害，直到与 正常的衰老会破坏这些代偿机制， 酒精滥用/依赖（在生命早期）变得明显。没有 文献中的数据来测试这些模型的差分预测 (e.g.,数据的中枢神经系统状态的老年人谁是酒精进入 中年晚期，但已经禁欲10年或更长时间），因为 迄今为止的研究只集中在最近禁欲的人身上。 我们将测试这两种相反的模型，以了解年龄如何调节慢性酒精 滥用对CNS结构和功能的影响。 结构脑成像将用于评估局部脑形态 变化;电生理和神经心理测试将评估 信息处理能力的功能变化。该研究将使用 横断面设计，分为5组，每组30名男性， 30个女人该项目的第二个目标是确定是否有 慢性酒精滥用对中枢神经系统功能的影响存在性别差异， 以及年龄对这些影响的调节作用。我们的最终目标是 项目是检查其他因素（例如，大脑“功能储备”，存在 APOE-ε 4等位基因），这可能会调节慢性酒精的影响 滥用/依赖和年龄对大脑结构和功能的影响。

DESCRIPTION: (Adapted from the Investigator's Abstract) The primary goal of the proposed research is to test two opposing models of why the CNS morbidity due to alcohol abuse is greatest in the elderly alcoholic. The generally accepted age-related vulnerability model postulates a greater vulnerability of the older brain to the toxic effects of alcohol. An alternative model, the cumulative effects model, postulates the duration and amount of abusive drinking (regardless of when in the lifespan it took place) and the aging process as the only factors underlying the greater CNS morbidity in the older alcoholic. In the cumulative effects model, the younger brain is able to compensate for the damage done by alcohol abuse/dependence until cognitive losses associated with normal aging undermine these compensatory mechanisms and the CNS morbidity due to alcohol abuse/dependence (earlier in life) becomes apparent. There is no data in the literature to test the differential predictions of these models (e.g., data on the CNS status of elderly individuals who were alcoholic into late middle age, but who have been abstinent for 10 years or more) because research to date has focused only on recently abstinent individuals. We will test these two opposing models of how age modulates chronic alcohol abuse effects on CNS structure and function using state-of-the-art methods. Structural brain imaging will be used to assess regional morphological brain changes; electrophysiological and neuropsychological testing will assess functional changes in information processing abilities. The study will use a cross-sectional design with five groups, each group consisting of 30 males and 30 females. The secondary goal of this project is to determine whether there are gender differences in the effects of chronic alcohol abuse on CNS function, and the matter in which age modulates these effects. Our final goal in the project is to examine other factors (e.g., brain "functional reserve," presence of the APOE-epsilon4 allele) that may modulate the effects of chronic alcohol abuse/dependence and age on brain structure and function.