Cerebral Correlates of Early Habitual Drinking

描述（由申请人提供）：早期和习惯性饮酒是酒精依赖的前驱症状。遗传和环境等多种因素导致早期和习惯性饮酒。许多研究表明，大脑结构和功能是酒精滥用和酒精依赖的中间表型。另一方面，虽然有大量的信息，大脑结构和功能是如何改变的结果，长期饮酒，这些影响在非依赖性的早期和习惯性饮酒知之甚少。特别是，哪些神经相关性可以预测 问题饮酒和非依赖性个体饮酒的数量和频率？ 为了解决这个问题，我们建议招募大量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病学评估，包括他们的饮酒行为，参加MRI研究以评估大脑结构（基于体素的形态测定或VBM）、白色物质完整性（扩散张量成像或DTI）以及认知控制和酒精提示反应性的组成过程的功能（功能性MRI或fMRI）。我们将对所有参与者进行为期两年的临床随访，每三个月对他们的饮酒行为进行一次评估。将在基线和每隔一次随访时定量头发乙基葡萄糖醛酸苷，作为饮酒的补充指标。对于每一个神经指标，我们将研究它们如何预测饮酒行为的变化，无论是独立的还是协同的。 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非常需要但目前还无法获得的细节水平上描述早期习惯性饮酒的回路生物标志物。 最重要的是，这些神经标记物将有助于识别和促进对有重度饮酒和酒精依赖风险的个体的早期干预。

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.