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Scientific Commentary |
Get sober; stay sober
Associate Professor of Diagnostic Radiology and Psychiatry Division of Bioimaging Sciences N-141 TAC-MRRC, 300 Cedar Street, New Haven, CT 06520-8043, USA
E-mail: graeme.mason@yale.edu
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In the decades since alcoholism became widely recognized as a disease (Jellinek, 1960
), evidence for alcohol-induced physical damage has accumulated both in quantity and in detail. Prominent amongst the affected organ systems at-risk is the brain, which responds to alcohol in a variety of ways. Free radicals formed during metabolism of alcohol damage the brain. Acetaldehyde, which is generated from ethanol, is highly reactive and toxic. This metabolite cross-links brain enzymes, reducing or eliminating the normal functions of those proteins. Neurotransmitter systems are altered not only through these mechanisms, but by adaptation to the neuromodulatory effects of ethanol itself (Heinz et al., 2003). Furthermore, it is possible to visualize damage to different types of brain cells microscopically (Miguel-Hidalgo and Rajkowska, 2003) and, in particular, changes in the number and size of glia (Miguel-Hidalgo et al., 2002