Alcoholic dementia: myth or reality?

Abstract

Chronic alcohol abuse and/or dependence may result in cognitive decline, ranging from isolated amnesia and/or mild cognitive impairment to full-blown dementia. The underlying mechanisms include deficiency of nutritional factors (such as B-complex vitamins) resulting in Wernicke-Koraskoff's syndrome, and/or pellagrous encephalopathy, liver failure, Marchiafava-Bignami disease and cerebrovascular disease or combinations of the above. However, it has been suggested that progressive cognitive impairment can occur in the absence of the above-established syndromes, and has been attributed to the direct toxic effect of ethanol on the brain. Basic and clinical research has been shown that alcohol may be directly toxic to nerve cells via interplay of oxidative stress, excitotoxicity, mitochondrial damage and apoptosis.