A study conducted by scientists at the National Institutes of Health in the United States has confirmed what we have long suspected, that chronic alcohol use affects the way our brain’s function and control our behaviour.
According to the study, which was conducted on mice, excessive alcohol use leads to brain adaptations that shift behaviour control away from an area of the brain involved in complex decision-making and towards the region responsible for habit formation.
The research finally helps us explain why alcoholics and alcohol dependent people display drastic changes in behaviour and why they battle to break the habit of chronic alcohol use.
Read what an excerpt from a post on www.nih.gov reported on the study,
The brain’s prefrontal cortex is involved in decision-making and controlling emotion, while the dorsal striatum is thought to play a key role in motivation and habit formation. Past studies have shown that alcohol dependent individuals show problems with skills mediated by the prefrontal cortex such as impulse control. These same individuals often show exaggerated neural response in the dorsal striatum to alcohol-related cues.
To investigate whether changes in the dorsal striatum might account for these observations, researchers led by Andrew Holmes, Ph.D., in the Laboratory of Behavioural and Genomic Neuroscience at NIAAA, measured changes in the brains of mice that were chronically exposed to alcohol vapours.
He and his colleagues found profound changes in the dorsal striatum of these mice, including the expansion of neuronal dendrites, the branching projections of the nerve cell that conduct signals. Such changes are also seen with chronic exposure to drugs such as amphetamine. These structural changes were associated with changes in synaptic plasticity, the brain’s ability to change in response to experience, and reduced activity of endocannabinoid receptors, which are part of a signalling system that may play a role in sensation, mood, and memory.
Read more at http://www.nih.gov/news/health/aug2013/niaaa-22.htm
The research shows that these findings provide insight into how too much alcohol can affect learning and behavioural control at a neural level. According to a lead researcher, D Kenneth R Warren, the shift to increased striatal control over behaviour may be a critical step in the progression of alcoholism.
The findings also suggest that chronic alcohol consumption may trigger a concerted set of adaptions in this area of the brain which produced a bias for striatal control over behaviour. The changes may be responsible for the changes in habits and compulsive behaviour displayed by alcoholics.
This research also helps us understand how to treat alcoholism but suggesting that the best treatment may be one designed to normalize striatal function.
The researchers also went on to explain that when it comes to drug abuse, the brain’s functions are simply impaired but are complexly adapted and deteriorate the functioning of some areas of the brain while amping up other areas.
Yet more evidence that proves moderate alcohol consumption is best, not only for your immediate safety but for your health and brain functioning as well as to avoid developing dangerous alcohol habits.