Abstract
Binge drinking or heavy episodic drinking is a high prevalent pattern of alcohol consumption among young people in several countries. Despite increasing evidence that binge drinking is associated with impairments in executive aspects of working memory (i.e. self-ordered working memory), processes known to depend on the mid-dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (Brodmann areas 46 and 9), less is known about the impact of binge drinking on prefrontal gray matter integrity. Here, we investigated the effects of binge drinking on gray matter volume of mid- dorsolateral prefrontal cortex in youths. We used voxel-based morphometry on the structural magnetic resonance images of subjects reporting a persistent (at least three years) binge drinking pattern of alcohol use (n = 11; age 22.43±1.03) and control subjects (n = 21; age 22.18±1.08) to measure differences in gray matter volume between both groups. In a region of interest analysis of the mid-dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, after co-varying for age and gender, we observed significantly larger gray matter volume in the left mid-dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (Brodmann areas 46 and 9) in binge drinkers in comparison with control subjects. Furthermore, there was a significant positive correlation between left mid-dorsolateral prefrontal cortex volume and Self-Ordered Pointing Test (SOPT) total errors score in binge drinkers. The left mid-dorsolateral prefrontal cortex volume also correlated with the quantity and speed of alcohol intake. These findings indicate that a repeated exposure to alcohol −that does not meet criteria for alcohol dependence− throughout post-adolescent years and young adulthood is linked with structural anomalies in mid-dorsolateral prefrontal regions critically involved in executive aspects of working memory.
Highlights
Binge drinking (BD), or heavy episodic drinking, is characterized by repeated episodes of heavy alcohol consumption followed by abstinence, and is acknowledged as being the most common type of alcohol misuse among young people in several countries [1]
Our results indicate that these cortical volume differences in gray matter (GM) were positively associated with poorer performance in neurocognitive measures of executive functioning that are known to depend on the integrity of the mid-dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC), as well as with the quantity and intensity of alcohol intake
Care should be taken in interpreting our present results, the larger GM mid-DLPFC volume associated with BD might reflect the deleterious effects of heavy episodic alcohol exposure on typical development of prefrontal cortex, a region sensitive to alcohol neurotoxicity [62]
Summary
Binge drinking (BD), or heavy episodic drinking, is characterized by repeated episodes of heavy alcohol consumption (leading to intoxication) followed by abstinence, and is acknowledged as being the most common type of alcohol misuse among young people in several countries [1]. Despite the increased prevalence of this pattern of alcohol consumption during adolescence and early adulthood, the extent to which BD may affect brain integrity and cortical maturation has only been investigated recently. Of particular importance is how this pattern of repeated alcohol exposure affects the prefrontal cortex, one of the last brain regions to develop and that undergoes substantial developmental changes during this age span. Studies of gray matter (GM) maturation show a loss in cortical GM density over time [2]–[3], which has been attributed to synaptic pruning and myelination, cellular changes known to occur throughout adolescence in humans [4]. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) studies have reported that, in the frontal lobe, the GM maturation involves the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC), which shows an increase in GM density reduction during the post-adolescent years [2]–[3]. Significant improvements in high-order executive functions are observed at this stage of development [5]
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