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 1,400 万成年人符合酒精滥用或酒精中毒诊断的临床标准，估计成本为 1,850 亿美元。长期接触酒精已被证明会影响大脑的结构和功能。由于大多数已知的酒精对大脑的影响都是基于对长期酗酒者的研究，因此尚不清楚某些影响是否可能在滥用过程的早期发生。此外，人体研究往往因多种因素而变得复杂，包括多种药物滥用、营养状况不佳和其他医疗状况。另一个复杂的因素是压力和酒精的相互作用。我们将使用磁共振成像（MRI）来检查长期自我饮酒对一组母养或托儿所养育的猴子的大脑结构和功能的影响。将进行核磁共振扫描，以确定是否因酒精暴露而导致结构或功能存在差异，以及饲养条件是否在这些影响中发挥作用。核磁共振技术还将用于检查长期饮酒如何影响脑血流量，这是神经元活动的衡量标准。因为我们将在同一“年轻成年”动物的酒精暴露之前和之后进行这些测量，所以我们将能够追踪酒精滥用早期可能发生的任何变化，这是人类研究中无法实现的。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适应猴脑。为了实现这一目标，我们将与国家医疗计算联盟 (NA-MIC) 合作，该联盟是现有的 NIH 生物医学计算中心。我们可以控制与这些猴子自我饮酒相关的所有变量。在接触酒精之前和之后都会对它们进行监测，因此，我们将能够监测因酒精接触直接导致的结构或功能的任何变化的进展。这些研究将有助于确定长期饮酒可能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.