Decrease of benzodiazepine receptors in frontal cortex of alcoholics
| Autor: | Gerhard Freund, William E. Ballinger |
|---|---|
| Rok vydání: | 1988 |
| Předmět: |
medicine.medical_specialty
Health (social science) medicine.drug_class Encephalopathy Central nervous system Flunitrazepam Toxicology Biochemistry Behavioral Neuroscience Atrophy Neurochemical Internal medicine medicine Humans Receptor Benzodiazepine Ethanol GABAA receptor General Medicine Middle Aged Receptors GABA-A medicine.disease Frontal Lobe Receptors Neurotransmitter Alcoholism Kinetics Endocrinology medicine.anatomical_structure Neurology Data Interpretation Statistical Anesthesia Autopsy Psychology medicine.drug |
| Zdroj: | Alcohol. 5:275-282 |
| ISSN: | 0741-8329 |
| DOI: | 10.1016/0741-8329(88)90065-1 |
| Popis: | We hypothesize that chronic alcohol abuse results in a loss of neurons and their associated synaptic receptors. This encephalopathy may be a precursor of brain atrophy and end-stage dementia. Autopsies were performed on normal brains of 27 alcoholics (mean age 62.5) and 30 nonalcoholic matched controls (mean age 64.4) free of other brain and liver diseases. None had recently received benzodiazepine medications. Gross brain atrophy was slight and equal in both groups. Benzodiazepine receptor densities and affinities in homogenates of frontal cortex were determined using [3H]flunitrazepam. Bmax specific binding was reduced by 20% in alcoholics compared with nonalcoholic controls of comparable age and with similar death-autopsy time intervals. The affinity was slightly less in the alcoholics. Wet tissue brain protein concentrations and their yields of 50,000-g pellet proteins were similar. Aging, death-autopsy time intervals, pneumonia and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (diseases usually associated with hypoxia) had no significant effect on brain proteins, receptor densities, or affinities. We conclude that chronic alcoholism is associated with a loss of benzodiazepine receptor densities. Alcohol abuse may affect the results of post-mortem neurochemical investigations of other diseases. |
| Databáze: | OpenAIRE |
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