Gender and adolescent alcohol use disorders on BOLD (blood oxygen level dependent) response to spatial working memory.
OBJECTIVE
To determine how alcohol use differentially affects brain functioning in male and female adolescents.


METHODS
Adolescents with alcohol use disorders (AUDs; 7 female, 11 male) and control adolescents without AUDs (9 female, 12 male), aged 14-17 years, performed spatial working memory and vigilance tasks during functional magnetic resonance imaging.


RESULTS
Gender, AUD and their interaction were significantly associated with brain activation patterns to the tasks. There were interactions in the superior frontal, superior temporal, cingulate and fusiform regions, in which female and male adolescents with AUDs showed a different brain response from each other and control subjects. Overall, female adolescents with AUDs showed a greater departure from normal activation patterns than male adolescents with AUD.


CONCLUSIONS
Adolescent alcohol involvement may affect male and female brains differently, and adolescent females may be somewhat more vulnerable to adverse alcohol effects. With continued drinking, these adolescents may be at an increased risk for behavioural deficits.
Caldwell
Lisa C
LC
Veterans Medical Research Foundation, San Diego, California, USA.
Schweinsburg
Alecia D
AD
Nagel
Bonnie J
BJ
Barlett
Valerie C
VC
Brown
Sandra A
SA
Tapert
Susan F
SF
D000293:Adolescent; D019973:Alcohol-Related Disorders / Q000097:blood* / Q000503:physiopathology* / Q000523:psychology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging / Q000379:methods; D008297:Male; D008568:Memory / Q000502:physiology*; D010100:Oxygen / Q000097:blood; D010101:Oxygen Consumption / Q000502:physiology*; D012727:Sex Characteristics; D013037:Spatial Behavior / Q000502:physiology*
D010100:Oxygen