Abstract
BackgroundAlcohol dependence during withdrawal and also in abstinent period in many cases is related to reduced inhibitory functions and kindling that may appear in the form of psychosensory symptoms similar to temporal lobe epilepsy frequently in conditions of normal EEG and without seizures. Because temporal lobe epileptic activity tend to spread between hemispheres, it is possible to suppose that measures reflecting interhemispheric information transfer such as electrodermal activity (EDA) might be related to the psychosensory symptoms.Methods and FindingsWe have performed measurement of bilateral EDA, psychosensory symptoms (LSCL-33) and alcohol craving (ACQ) in 34 alcohol dependent patients and 32 healthy controls. The results in alcohol dependent patients show that during rest conditions the psychosensory symptoms (LSCL-33) are related to EDA transinformation (PTI) between left and right EDA records (Spearman r = 0.44, p<0.01).ConclusionsThe result may present potentially useful clinical finding suggesting a possibility to indirectly assess epileptiform changes in alcohol dependent patients.
Highlights
Alcohol dependence is characterized by an obsessive need for alcohol intake that is related to a subjective experience of craving that motivates to use alcohol and plays a significant role in maintenance of dependent behavior [1,2,3]
There is evidence that kindling causes abnormalities in a number of neurotransmitter systems and is related to reduced inhibitory functions, and increased activity of excitatory systems [1,2] similar to human limbic or temporal lobe epilepsy [6,7,8]. These findings are in agreement with evidence that alcohol facilitates inhibitory gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA) function and alcohol dependence is associated with time-dependent changes in brain GABA(A) receptor density and subunit gene expression levels that contribute to an understanding of the role of GABA systems in alcohol action and dependence, and the vulnerability to alcoholism [9,10]
Together these findings suggest that in many cases alcohol dependence and its pathogenesis may be closely related to an epileptiform process most likely located in temporolimbic structures that are functionally related to cognitive, affective and memory processes and involved in generation of temporal lobe seizures that may occur without any evidence on scalp EEG [13,14,15,16]
Summary
Alcohol dependence is characterized by an obsessive need for alcohol intake that is related to a subjective experience of craving that motivates to use alcohol and plays a significant role in maintenance of dependent behavior [1,2,3]. There is evidence that kindling causes abnormalities in a number of neurotransmitter systems and is related to reduced inhibitory functions, and increased activity of excitatory systems [1,2] similar to human limbic or temporal lobe epilepsy [6,7,8] These findings are in agreement with evidence that alcohol facilitates inhibitory gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA) function and alcohol dependence is associated with time-dependent changes in brain GABA(A) receptor density and subunit gene expression levels that contribute to an understanding of the role of GABA systems in alcohol action and dependence, and the vulnerability to alcoholism [9,10]. Because temporal lobe epileptic activity tend to spread between hemispheres, it is possible to suppose that measures reflecting interhemispheric information transfer such as electrodermal activity (EDA) might be related to the psychosensory symptoms
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