Publication Abstract Display
Type: Published Abstract
Title: Recovery of brain fMRI response to a spatial working memory task in abstinent alcoholics.
Authors: Schweinsburg BC, Schweinsburg AD, Taylor MJ, Tapert SF, and Grant I
Year: 2004
Publication: Journal of the International Neuropsychological Society
Volume: 10 Issue: Suppl S1 Pages: 65
Abstract:Previous functional magnetic resonance imaging (FMRI) studies in adult and young-adult alcoholics have revealed aberrant brain response to spatial working memory (SWM) task during sobriety. While quantitative magnetic resonance imaging and neuropsychological studies shown improvements with abstinence, the potential for recovery with long-term sobriety has not been evaluated with FMRI. We studied two groups of male alcoholics at different stages of abstinence, and healthy male controls. We predicted that long-term sober individuals would be comparable to controls, while recently detoxified alcoholics would have an abnormal FMRI response to SWM. Twenty-three recently detoxified alcoholics sober 2-8 weeks (RDA: age=46.3, education=12.4), 11 long-term abstinent alcoholics sober > 18 months (LTA: age=46.3, education=13.4), and 7 healthy controls (age=46.6, education=13.8) were scanned. Blood oxygen level dependent (BOLD) imaging was collected while subjects performed the task, which contrasted '2-back' SWM for locations with an active vigilance baseline. The groups had comparable accuracy rates on the SWM task. In addition, the groups had similar patterns of response during the active vigilance baseline condition. RDA showed significant increases in brain response to the SWM task in superior frontal and posterior parietal regions compared to CON and LTA (p=.0167, cluster volume=1072 µL). However, LTA and CON displayed similar patterns of activation, including no significant superior frontal or parietal differences. The results are consistent with previous studies demonstrating aberrant BOLD response in detoxified alcoholics. The increased activation patterns found in RDA may be a compensatory response due to underlying changes in neuronal integrity. Furthermore, despite being cross-sectional in nature, these findings support the notion that protracted sobriety from alcohol is associated with improvement in brain functioning.

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