Alcohol abuse and alcoholism are devastating to brain function, altering blood flow, glucose metabolism, receptor function, CNS-mediated immune responses, and sleep regulation. Normal aging impairs these same brain functions. Until recently, few studies had sought to determine if and how alcohol and aging might interact to produce brain pathophysiologies and clinical consequences. In 1988, the NIAAA provided funding to The University of Michigan Alcohol Research Center (UMARC) to pursue this theme.
The specific aims of this renewal application are: 1) To extend the UMARC's now well-established programs assessing consequences of alcohol- aging interactions; these focus on alterations of brain metabolism, brain receptor binding, brain blood flow, cognition, sleep, and psychoneuroimmune function; 2) To assess alcohol-and aging-induced brain effects on two important areas of life, sleep and driving performance; 3) To develop clinical strategies for earlier detection, better treatment matching, and improved, interventions; and 4) To serve as a local, regional, and national resource for intellectual exchange and training in alcohol, aging, neurosciences, and clinical interventions. To continue achieving the aims, renewal projects include: 1) Alcohol, brain metabolism and benzodiazepine receptor binding (a PET study); 2) Alcohol, acetate, cerebral blood flow and intoxication syndrome (A SPECT study); 3) Alcohol, aging and immune function (a psychoneuroimmune study); 4) Alcohol, aging and sleep apnea (a sleep EEG study); 5) Alcohol, aging and driving performance (a driving simulation study at Transportation Research Institute); 6) Alcohol, aging, clinical screening and briefing intervention (this project uses a UMARC elderly-specific screening instrument [the MAST-G] and tests brief interventions in the elderly); 7) Alcohol, aging, serotonergic probes, and treatment matching (a project that studies whether a serotonergic probe [m-CPP] might predict treatment response to selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors in alcoholics of all ages, but especially the elderly). These research projects are logical extensions of prior UMARC efforts; four are continuations. All are supported by an Administrative Core and Scientific Core (Subject Recruitment, Data Management and Analysis). The UMARC has already spawned five independent extramurally-funded projects and an NIAAA Clinical Research Training Grant. By enhancing knowledge of alcohol-aging brain damage and clinical consequences, and by testing new screening and treatment strategies, the UMARC aims to counteract ethanol-induced disabilities in this important segment of our population, thus continuing to fulfill the agenda of the NIAAA Centers Program.
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