Cerebral Correlates of Early Habitual Drinking

描述(申请人提供)：早期和习惯性饮酒是酒精依赖的前驱症状。包括遗传和环境在内的多种因素导致了早期和习惯性饮酒。大量研究表明，大脑结构和功能是酒精滥用和酒精依赖易感性的中间表型。另一方面，虽然关于长期饮酒如何改变大脑结构和功能的信息很多，但对非依赖型早期和习惯性饮酒的影响知之甚少。具体地说，什么是神经关联，可以预测增加 问题饮酒和非依赖者饮酒的数量和频率？为了解决这个问题，我们建议招募一大批早期饮酒者进行磁共振成像(MRI)研究和临床随访。志愿者将接受详细的医学和精神评估，包括他们的饮酒行为，参与MRI研究以评估大脑结构(基于体素的形态测量或VBM)、白质完整性(扩散张量成像或DTI)以及认知控制和酒精线索反应的组成部分过程的功能(功能MRI或功能MRI)。我们将让所有参与者进行为期两年的临床随访，每三个月评估一次他们的饮酒行为。头发乙基葡萄糖醛酸乙酯将在基线和每隔一段时间进行量化，作为酒精消费的补充指标。对于这些神经测量中的每一个，我们将独立地和协同地检查它们如何预测饮酒行为的变化。我们的首要目标是确定最能描述非依赖性早期习惯性饮酒的大脑内表型，并预测问题饮酒的变化以及饮酒的频率和数量。这些潜在的发现将在一个迫切需要但目前尚未获得的细节水平上表征早期习惯性饮酒的循环生物标记物。 最重要的是，这些神经标志物将有助于识别和促进对有酗酒和酒精依赖风险的个人进行早期干预。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Early and habitual alcohol use is prodromal to alcohol dependence. Multiple factors including genetics and environment contribute to early and habitual drinking. Numerous studies have suggested cerebral structures and functions as an intermediate phenotype of alcohol misuse and vulnerability to alcohol dependence. On the other hand, while there is abundant information on how cerebral structures and functions are altered as a result of chronic alcohol use, little is known about these influences in non-dependent early and habitual drinking. In particular, what are the neural correlates that would predict increase in problem drinking and the quantity and frequency of alcohol use in non-dependent individuals? To address this question, we propose to recruit a large sample of early alcohol drinkers for magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) studies and clinical follow-up. Volunteers will undergo detailed medical and psychiatric assessments including their drinking behaviors, participate in MRI studies to evaluate cerebral structures (voxel-based morphometry or VBM), white matter integrity (diffusion tensor imaging or DTI), and functions of the component processes of cognitive control and alcohol cue reactivity (functional MRI or fMRI). We will engage all participants in a two-year clinical follow-up with tri-monthly assessments of their drinking behaviors. Head hair ethyl glucuronide will be quantified at baseline and every other follow-up, as a complementary index of alcohol consumption. For each of these neural measures, we will examine how they predict changes in drinking behavior, both independently and synergistically. Our overarching goal is to identify cerebral endophenotypes that best describe non-dependent early, habitual drinking and predict changes in problem drinking as well as the frequency and quantity of drinking. The potential findings would characterize the circuit biomarkers of early habitual drinking at a level of details that are critically needed and yet not currently available. Most importantly, these neural markers would help identify and facilitate early intervention for individuals at risk of developing heavy drinking and alcohol dependence.