title: Effects of ethanol on human visual evoked potentials.
abstract: Studies of the effect of ethanol on human visual evoked potentials are rare and usually involve chronic alcoholic patients. The effect of acute ethanol ingestion has seldom been investigated. We have studied the effect of acute alcoholic poisoning on pattern-reversal visual evoked potentials (PR-VEP) and flash light visual evoked potentials (F-VEP) in 20 normal volunteers. We observed different effects with ethanol: statistically significant prolonged latencies of F-VEP after ingestion, and no significant differences in the latencies of the PR-VEP components. We hypothesize a selective ethanol effect on the afferent transmission of rods, mainly dependent on GABA and glutamatergic neurotransmission, influencing F-VEP latencies, and no effect on cone afferent transmission, as alcohol doesn't influence PR-VEP latencies.
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology and Psychiatry, Faculty of Medicine of Botucatu, UNESP. resende@laser.com.br
authors.forename: L A
authors.initials: LA
authors.lastname: Resende
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Adoni
authors.forename: P A
authors.initials: PA
authors.lastname: Kimaid
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Ragazzo
authors.forename: J A
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: Ehlers
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000428:Alcohol Drinking / Q000009:adverse effects*; D000435:Alcoholic Intoxication / Q000503:physiopathology*; D004305:Dose-Response Relationship, Drug; D005074:Evoked Potentials, Visual / Q000187:drug effects*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D011930:Reaction Time / Q000187:drug effects / Q000502:physiology; D017948:Retinal Rod Photoreceptor Cells / Q000187:drug effects / Q000503:physiopathology; D014795:Visual Pathways / Q000187:drug effects / Q000503:physiopathology