This research is designed to determine neuroanatomical and neurochemical correlates of addictive and aggressive/impulsive behavior in human subjects. The principal focus of these studies is the measurement and correlation of regional cerebral glucose metabolic activity, using positron emission tomography (PET), brain volumes using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), cerebrospinal fluid metabolites, and measures of impulsive/aggressive behavior and excessive alcohol consumption. We collected full, volumetric T-1 weighted MR images using a 1.5 T scanner to measure intra-cranial volumes in 68 alcoholics (38 males and 30 females) and 38 healthy, non-alcoholic comparison subjects (19 males and 19 females). An automated segmentation program was used to divide the intra-cranial contents into CSF, gray and white matter (Human Brain Mapping, 5:194-205, 1997). We also measured the cross sectional area of the corpus callosum. Since women have significantly smaller intra-cranial volumes than men, the genders were analyzed separately. Women alcoholics showed significant reductions in cerebral gray and white matter volumes compared to healthy non-alcoholic women, as well as significant increases in ventricular and sulcal CSF. The largest differences were in gray matter (486+/-45 ml vs. 551+/-51 ml) and corpus callosum (511+/-84 mm2 vs. 604+/-65 mm2). Neither gray matter volume nor corpus callosum area differed significantly between alcoholic and non-alcoholic men. However, alcoholic men did have significantly more sulcal CSF than non-alcoholic men (284+/-43 ml vs. 262+/-30 ml), but this difference was smaller than the difference in sulcal CSF between female alcoholics and controls (278+/-54 ml vs. 231+/-48 ml). Women appear to be more susceptible to alcoholism associated brain damage than men.
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