Binge or heavy episodic drinking has been on the rise and is associated with a range of harmful consequences that scale up with the high intensity drinking prevalent among young adults. Evidence on the nature and extent of neural changes associated with binge drinking (BD) is scant, especially as regards sex differences, so more sensitive, high-precision imaging modalities are needed to examine persistent brain alterations. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI)-based methods are sensitive to brain function, as well as different neural tissue properties, and are well suited to provide multidimensional insight into the structure and organization of the brain. Despite a paucity of neuroimaging studies in BD, evidence obtained from individuals with alcohol use disorder suggests that degradation of prefrontal functions may contribute to impaired executive functions and an inability to refrain from hazardous drinking. Consistent with findings in alcohol use disorder, our data and other evidence indicate that BD participants show compensatory engagement of additional brain areas to maintain adequate performance on cognitively demanding tasks. Complementary MRI modalities can reveal the nature and regional specificity of structural degradation that underlies and constrains the compensatory reorganization. The overall aim of this project is to use a range of MRI-based methods to examine functional indices and structural correlates of executive deficits and compensatory mechanisms in young adult binge drinking men and women. Because of their spatial precision and sensitivity to different neural tissue properties and functional features, MRI-based methods can provide insights into structural and functional alterations at the level of an interactive system. Specifically, BOLD fMRI will evaluate functional activation during tasks that probe cognitive control; resting state functional connectivity (RSFC) analysis will examine alterations at the level of a functional network, while structural degradation will be reflected in gray and white matter morphometric features. Diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) will characterize white matter microstructure and tract-based changes. These measures will be obtained from young adult men and women (18-30 yrs) who will be assigned to binge drinking (BD) and light drinking (LD) groups based on their drinking patterns and will be equated on age, race/ethnicity, and family history of alcoholism. Interactions between binge drinking and sex will be examined in all analyses. Overall, we hypothesize that neural alterations will correlate with a range of alcohol-related variables, with greater deficits and increased compensatory activity observed in BDs who engage in higher intensity drinking, with BD women being especially susceptible to functional deficits and structural degradation. Data will be integrated across imaging modalities in a machine learning classifier framework that will inform a predictive model of drinking trajectories based on 6-mos and 12-mos longitudinal follow-ups. Combined with a rich set of drinking indices, personality and behavioral variables, a constellation of brain measures will provide a mechanistic insight into the type and extend of the neural degradation underlying executive deficits and compensatory brain reorganization.
The overall aim of this project is to use a multimodal MRI approach to examine functional indices and structural correlates of executive deficits and compensatory mechanisms in young adult men and women engaging in binge drinking. Combined with a rich set of drinking indices, dispositional measures and behavioral variables, a constellation of brain measures will provide a mechanistic insight into the neural degradation underlying altered activity and brain reorganization.
