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Compensatory neuroadaptation to binge drinking: Human evidence for allostasis
Angeles Correas1,2, Pablo Cuesta1,2, Burke Q Rosen1,3
1Department of Psychology, San Diego State University, San Diego, California, USA.
Addiction Biology
|September 5, 2020
Summary
Young adults who engage in binge drinking exhibit heightened neural activity, indicating brain adaptations even without withdrawal. This suggests early changes in brain excitability linked to hazardous alcohol consumption patterns.
Area of Science:
- Neuroscience
- Psychiatry
- Addiction Research
Background:
- Alcohol's acute effects include neural inhibition.
- Frequent intoxication leads to neuroadaptive changes in neurotransmission balance.
- Neural hyperexcitability develops in alcohol use disorder, causing withdrawal symptoms.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate neuroadaptive changes in cortical excitability in young adults with varying alcohol consumption levels.
- To determine if neuroadaptations occur in the absence of withdrawal symptoms.
- To explore the relationship between alcohol consumption patterns and neural activity.
Main Methods:
- Used anatomically constrained magnetoencephalography (MEG) to assess cortical excitability.
- Measured early visual activity in social drinkers during intoxication and placebo conditions.
- Compared neural activity in sober binge drinkers (BDs) and light drinkers (LDs).
Main Results:
- Acute alcohol intoxication reduced early sensory activity in the visual cortex.
- Sober binge drinkers (BDs) displayed greater neural responsivity than light drinkers (LDs).
- Neural responsivity positively correlated with alcohol consumption in both BDs and social drinkers.
Conclusions:
- Binge drinking in young adults is associated with cortical hyperexcitability and a compensatory imbalance in neural signaling.
- These findings support the allostasis model of addiction.
- Direct neural measures may serve as biomarkers for neuroadaptation related to alcohol use.
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