title: Altered brain activation by a false recognition task in young abstinent patients with alcohol dependence.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Heavy alcohol intake induces both structural and functional changes in the central nervous system. Recent research developments converged on the idea that even in patients with alcohol dependence without apparent structural brain changes, some cognitive impairment exists, and associated functional change could be visualized by neuroimaging techniques. However, these data were from old (more than 50 years) patients using working memory and response inhibition tasks. Whether young abstinent patients show aberrant signs of brain activation is a matter of interest, specifically by the long-term memory retrieval task.
  
  
  METHODS
  Subjects were 9 young patients with alcohol dependence with long-term abstinent (8 males and 1 female) and age- and education-matched 9 healthy controls (7 males and 2 females). We used a modified false recognition task in a functional MRI study.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The young patients with alcohol dependence showed reduced activation in the right dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, anterior cingulate cortex (ACC), left pulvinar in the thalamus, and in the right ventral striatum, although behavioral performances and regional patterns of brain activation were similar between patients and controls.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Long-term memory retrieval induced altered activations in prefrontal lobes, ACC, thalamus, and ventral striatum in young patients with alcohol dependence. These findings were correspondent to deficits of goal directed behavior, monitoring the erroneous responses, memory function, and drug-seeking behavior. Furthermore, these reduced activations can be considered as latent "lesions," suggesting subclinical pathology in alcoholic brains.
authors.affiliation: Department of Molecular Neuroimaging, Molecular Imaging Center, National Institute of Radiological Sciences, Chiba, Japan.
authors.forename: Yoshihide
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Akine
authors.forename: Motoichiro
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Kato
authors.forename: Taro
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Muramatsu
authors.forename: Satoshi
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Umeda
authors.forename: Masaru
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Mimura
authors.forename: Yoshiyuki
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Asai
authors.forename: Shuji
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Tanada
authors.forename: Takayuki
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Obata
authors.forename: Hiroo
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Ikehira
authors.forename: Haruo
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Kashima
authors.forename: Tetsuya
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Suhara
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D000428:Alcohol Drinking / Q000473:pathology / Q000503:physiopathology*; D000437:Alcoholism / Q000503:physiopathology* / Q000523:psychology; D001479:Basal Ganglia / Q000473:pathology / Q000503:physiopathology; D001921:Brain / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000503:physiopathology; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D003071:Cognition / Q000502:physiology; D005260:Female; D006179:Gyrus Cinguli / Q000473:pathology / Q000503:physiopathology; D006801:Humans; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008297:Male; D017397:Prefrontal Cortex / Q000473:pathology / Q000503:physiopathology; D021641:Recognition, Psychology / Q000187:drug effects*; D013647:Task Performance and Analysis; D013788:Thalamus / Q000473:pathology / Q000503:physiopathology