Functional and pharmacological MRI in drug and alcohol addiction: A translational perspective

Alcohol abuse has been associated with long-term changes in functional, metabolic and morphometric parameters as measured by neuroimaging methods in patients. These changes include reduced grey matter volume in cortical and limbic regions, reduced resting state metabolism and connectivity, and abnormal functional responses in the reward and stress systems. An unanswered question in alcohol research is whether these alterations are the sole consequence of chronic alcohol use, or contain heritable contributions reflecting biological propensity toward ethanol addiction.
Source: Alcohol - Category: Addiction Authors: Source Type: research