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Updated: May 5, 2026

Disruption of Frontal Lobe Neural Synchrony During Cognitive Control by Alcohol Intoxication
Published on: February 6, 2019
Disruption of orbitofronto-striatal functional connectivity underlies maladaptive persistent behaviors in
Seojung Lee1, Eun Lee, Jeonghun Ku
1Department of Psychiatry and Institute of Behavioral Science in Medicine, Yonsei University College of Medicine, Seoul, Republic of Korea.
Objective:
Alcohol dependence is characterized by persistent alcohol-seeking despite negative consequences. Previous studies suggest that maladaptive persistent behaviors reflect alcohol-induced brain changes that cause alterations in the cortico-striatal-limbic circuit.
Methods:
Twenty one alcohol dependent patients and 24 age-matched healthy controls performed a decision-making task during functional MRI. We defined the medial orbitofrontal cortex (mOFC) as a region-of-interest and performed seed-based functional connectivity analysis.
Results:
Healthy controls were more flexible in adapting an alternative behavioral strategy, which correlated with stronger mOFC-dorsal striatum functional connectivity. In contrast, alcohol dependent patients persisted to the first established behavioral strategy. The mOFC-dorsal striatum functional connectivity was impaired in the alcohol-dependent patients, but increased in correlation with the duration of abstinence.
Conclusion:
Our findings support that the disruption of the mOFC-striatal circuitry contribute to the maldaptive persistent behaviors in alcohol dependent patients.
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