Brain activation during craving for alcohol measured by positron emission tomography.
OBJECTIVE
Craving for alcohol is probably involved in acquisition and maintenance of alcohol dependence to a substantial degree. However, the brain substrates and mechanisms that underlie alcohol craving await more detailed elucidation.


METHODS
Positron emission tomography was used to map regional cerebral blood flow (CBF) in 21 detoxified patients with alcohol dependence during exposure to alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverages.


RESULTS
During the alcohol condition compared with the control condition, significantly increased CBF was found in the ventral putamen. Additionally, activated areas included insula, dorsolateral prefrontal cortex and cerebellum. Cerebral blood flow increase in these regions was related to self-reports of craving assessed in the alcoholic patients.


CONCLUSIONS
In this investigation, cue-induced alcohol craving was associated with activation of brain regions particularly involved in brain reward mechanisms, memory and attentional processes. These results are consistent with studies on craving for other addictive substances and may offer strategies for more elaborate studies on the neurobiology of addiction.
Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, University of Freiburg Medical School, Germany. hans_olbrich@psyallg.ukl.uni-freiburg.de
Hans M
HM
Olbrich
Gabriele
G
Valerius
Christine
C
Paris
Friedemann
F
Hagenbuch
Dieter
D
Ebert
Freimut D
FD
Juengling
D000328:Adult; D000428:Alcohol Drinking / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000378:metabolism*; D001288:Attention / Q000502:physiology; D001921:Brain / Q000098:blood supply*; D002531:Cerebellum / Q000098:blood supply; D002540:Cerebral Cortex / Q000098:blood supply; D002560:Cerebrovascular Circulation / Q000502:physiology; D003463:Cues; D003710:Demography; D039721:Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders; D007174:Disruptive, Impulse Control, and Conduct Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008568:Memory / Q000502:physiology; D049268:Positron-Emission Tomography; D017397:Prefrontal Cortex / Q000098:blood supply; D011699:Putamen / Q000098:blood supply; D012201:Reward; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D013695:Temperance; D013997:Time Factors