Acute alcohol administration dampens central extended amygdala reactivity

Area of Science:

• Neuroscience
• Addiction Research
• Neuroimaging

Background:

• Alcohol use disorder (AUD) presents a significant public health challenge with limited treatment efficacy.
• The central extended amygdala (EAc), comprising the bed nucleus of the stria terminalis (BST) and central nucleus of the amygdala (Ce), is implicated in alcohol drinking models.
• The precise role of these EAc regions in acute alcohol consumption in humans is not well understood.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the impact of acute alcohol consumption on brain activity in the human EAc.
• To examine the neural correlates of alcohol's effects on emotional processing.
• To assess the functional relevance of the BST and Ce in the context of alcohol consumption.

Main Methods:

• A single-blind, randomized-groups study design was employed.
• Multiband functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) data were collected from 49 social drinkers.
• Participants completed an emotional faces task after consuming alcohol or a placebo.

Main Results:

• Alcohol consumption significantly reduced reactivity to emotional faces in the BST compared to placebo.
• Similar dampening effects were observed in both the BST and Ce, as assessed by unbiased region of interest analyses.
• Alcohol transiently diminished emotional face processing similarly across key divisions of the human EAc.

Conclusions:

• Acute alcohol intake transiently reduces emotional face reactivity in the human EAc.
• These findings align with and extend preclinical addiction models to human alcohol consumption.
• The study provides novel insights into neural systems relevant to alcohol intake and the early stages of alcohol abuse.