Measuring Alcohol and Stress Interactions with Structural and Perfusion MRI

描述(由申请人提供)：酒精滥用仍然是美国的一个主要问题，估计有1400万成年人符合酒精滥用或酒精中毒的临床诊断标准，估计成本为1850亿美元。已有研究表明，长期饮酒会影响大脑的结构和功能。由于已知的酒精对大脑影响的大部分是基于对长期滥用的个人的研究，目前尚不清楚其中一些影响是否会发生在滥用过程的早期。此外，人体研究往往因多种因素而变得复杂，包括滥用多种药物、营养不良和其他医疗条件。另一个复杂的因素是压力和酒精的相互作用。利用核磁共振成像(MRI)，我们将研究长期酒精自我给药对一组由母亲抚养或哺育的猴子大脑结构和功能的影响。将进行核磁共振扫描，以确定酒精暴露是否导致结构或功能上的差异，以及养育条件是否在这些影响中发挥作用。核磁共振技术还将被用来检查长期饮酒对脑血流量的影响，脑血流量是衡量神经元活动的一种指标。因为我们将在同一只“年轻的成年”动物身上进行酒精暴露前后的这些测量，我们将能够跟踪酒精滥用早期可能发生的任何变化，这是人类研究无法完成的。另一个目标是使用于测量人类大脑的成像工具和计算机软件与猴子的大脑相适应。为了实现这一目标，我们将与国家医疗计算联盟(NA-MIC)合作，NA-MIC是NIH现有的生物医学计算中心。我们可以控制这些猴子体内与酒精自我给药相关的所有变量。他们将在酒精暴露之前和之后被监测，因此，我们将能够监测酒精暴露直接导致的任何结构或功能变化的进展。这些研究将有助于确定长期饮酒可能会如何影响大脑的工作方式。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Alcohol abuse continues to be a major problem in the United States with an estimated 14 million adults meeting the clinical criteria for a diagnosis of alcohol abuse or alcoholism at an estimated cost of $185 billion. Chronic alcohol exposure has been shown to impact structure and function of the brain. Since most of what is known of alcohol's effects on the brain is based on studies of individuals who have abused for a long time, it is unclear whether some of the effects might occur early in the abuse process. Additionally, human studies are often complicated by many factors incuding polydrug abuse, poor nutritional states and other medical conditions. Another complicating factor is the interaction of stress and alcohol. Using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), we will examine the the effects of chronic alcohol self- administration on brain structure and function in a group of monkeys that have been mother-reared or nursery-reared. MRI scans will be acquired to determine whether there are differences in stucture or functions as a result of alcohol exposure and whether rearing conditions play a role in these effects. MRI techniques will also be used to examine how chronic alcohol consumption affects cerebral blood flow, which is a measure of neuronal activity. Because we will conduct these measures both before and after alcohol exposure in the same "young adult" animals, we will be able to track any changes that might occur early in alcohol abuse which is something that cannot be accomplished in human studies. Another goal is to adapt imaging tools and computer software that are used to measure the brains of humans to the monkey brain. To accomplish this, we will collaborate with the National Alliance for Medical Computing (NA-MIC), an existing NIH Center for Biomedical Computing. We can control all variables associated with alcohol self-administration in these monkeys. They will be monitored both before and after exposure to alcohol, thus, we will be able to monitor the progression of any changes in structure or function that directly result from alcohol exposure. These studies will help identify how exposure to long-term alcohol might affect how the brain works.