title: The effects of acute alcohol administration on the human brain: insights from neuroimaging.
abstract: Over the last quarter century, researchers have peered into the living human brain to develop and refine mechanistic accounts of alcohol-induced behavior, as well as neurobiological mechanisms for development and maintenance of addiction. These in vivo neuroimaging studies generally show that acute alcohol administration affects brain structures implicated in motivation and behavior control, and that chronic intoxication is correlated with structural and functional abnormalities in these same structures, where some elements of these decrements normalize with extended sobriety. In this review, we will summarize recent findings about acute human brain responses to alcohol using neuroimaging techniques, and how they might explain behavioral effects of alcohol intoxication. We then briefly address how chronic alcohol intoxication (as inferred from cross-sectional differences between various drinking populations and controls) may yield individual brain differences between drinking subjects that may confound interpretation of acute alcohol administration effects. This article is part of the Special Issue Section entitled 'Neuroimaging in Neuropharmacology'.
authors: Division of Clinical Neuroscience and Behavioral Research, National Institute on Drug Abuse, National Institutes of Health, 6001 Executive Blvd, Room 3163, Bethesda, MD 20892, USA. Electronic address: jbjork@mail.nih.gov.
authors: James M
authors: JM
authors: Bjork
authors: Laboratory of Neuroimaging and Genetics, MGH Division of Psychiatric Neuroscience, Martinos Center for Biomedical Imaging, Massachusetts General Hospital, USA.
authors: Jodi M
authors: JM
authors: Gilman
mesh_terms: D019973:Alcohol-Related Disorders / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000503:physiopathology; D001921:Brain / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000502:physiology*; D002492:Central Nervous System Depressants / Q000008:administration & dosage*; D002560:Cerebrovascular Circulation / Q000187:drug effects / Q000502:physiology; D003072:Cognition Disorders / Q000139:chemically induced / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000503:physiopathology; D000431:Ethanol / Q000008:administration & dosage*; D006801:Humans; D059906:Neuroimaging; D011877:Radionuclide Imaging
chemical_list: D002492:Central Nervous System Depressants; D000431:Ethanol
keywords: Addiction; Alcohol; Neuroimaging; Positron Emission Tomography; fMRI
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