Brain rewired toward high anxiety by heavy drinking per new research (Video) (Video)
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SEPTEMBER 2, 2012
BY: PAUL HAMAKER
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Thomas Kash, Ph.D., assistant professor of pharmacology at the University of North Carolina School of Medicine, reported the first research that demonstrates a physical alteration in the brain as a result of heavy drinking in the August 2, 2012, journal Nature Neuroscience. The research was reviewed at the Eureka Alert web site the same day.
The new study is also the first to make a physical and chemical connection between the overuse of alcohol, high levels of anxiety, and post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).
View slideshow: Brain rewired toward high anxiety by heavy drinking per new research
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Slideshow: Brain rewired toward high anxiety by heavy drinking per new research
Thomas Kash, Ph.D., assistant professor of pharmacology at the Bowles Center for Alcohol Studies in the University of North Carolina School of Medicine, is one of the study's authors.
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Credit: UNC School of Medicine Usage Restrictions: None
The scientists tested two groups of mice. One group of mice received no alcohol. The second group of mice received doses of alcohol equivalent to double the legal driving limit in humans.
Both groups of mice were then trained to avoid a bell tone using a small electric shock.
Both groups of mice were then exposed to the bell tone with no electric shock.
The mice that consumed alcohol demonstrated high levels ofanxiety and post traumatic stress disorder like behaviors when the electric shock did not accompany the bell tone.
Examination of the two groups of mice showed theprefrontal cortex area of the brain of the alcohol-exposed mice had a different shape than those of the abstinent mice. The alcohol-exposed mice also demonstrated a lowered activity level of the receptor NMDA. NMDA (N-Methyl-D-aspartic acid) is known to become overactive in alcohol withdrawal producing anxiety.
The aim of the research is to define the relationship between alcohol abuse and PTSD in an effort to tailor treatments that are specific to the chemistry involved in alcohol abuse combined with PTSD.
Twenty percent of armed forces veterans in Alabama suffer from PTSD. The Veterans Affairs Medical CenterMAPS/MI Addiction PTSD Services of Alabama has defined programs to help veterans dealing with PTSD and alcohol problems. The program can be reached at this site.
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Paul Hamaker, Birmingham Science News Examiner
Bryan Hamaker is a Chemist and Mathematician. He developed a coating for beer cans that two billion people use daily. Expertise in metal, lubricants, and coatings. Make new science understandable and useable to anybody.
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