Molecular pathogenesis of amino acid neurotransmission in human chronic alcoholism

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Brain damage resulting from long-term alcohol abuse is localized to discrete regions of the brain, and may selectively affect certain specific functions of nerve cells. It appears that alcoholism affects processes which control the excitability in discrete regions of the brain, and hence can cause them to be over-stimulated. It is known that if brain cells are excessively stimulated for long periods, they are in danger of being killed. This study will determine how the tissue s capacity to process glutamate, the brain s major natural excitant, is altered in the regions which are selectively damaged in alcoholics. How these processes are affected by heredity, and by diseases commonly associated with alcoholism such as cirrhosis of the liver, will also be explored. An understanding of how selective brain damage occurs in alcoholics will help us to devise new drug therapies to combat and prevent it. As well, selective brain damage is found in a great many neurological diseases, so this study will provide a model which may help to dene general processes which give rise to localised neurological damage