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Acute Effects of Alcohol Administration on Regional Cerebral Blood Flow: The Role of Acetate
Author(s) -
Schwartz Joseph A.,
Speed Nancy M.,
Gross Milton D.,
Lucey Michael R.,
Bazakis Andrew M.,
Hariharan M.,
Beresford Thomas P.
Publication year - 1993
Publication title -
alcoholism: clinical and experimental research
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.267
H-Index - 153
eISSN - 1530-0277
pISSN - 0145-6008
DOI - 10.1111/j.1530-0277.1993.tb05217.x
Subject(s) - cerebral blood flow , alcohol , ethanol , medicine , blood flow , single photon emission computed tomography , anesthesia , endocrinology , chemistry , biochemistry
The effect of alcohol intoxication on regional cerebral blood flow (rCBF) is unclear. The few published studies provide a mixed picture of alcohol effects, suggesting that blood flow increases at low doses and decreases at higher doses of alcohol. Using the cerebral blood flow agent 99m technetium hexamethyl‐propylene‐amine‐oxime (HMPAO) and image reconstruction with single photon emission computed tomography (SPECT), we evaluated the effect of an oral dose of ethanol (0.6 g/kg) on rCBF in two age‐stratified groups of healthy, nonalcoholic men (12 age 22–37 and 12 age 63–77). Intoxication was associated with a significant 4% increase in global cortical CBF ( t = 2.54, p = 0.02). Changes in HMPAO uptake were negatively correlated to ethanol levels in the entire group ( r = ‐0.47, p = 0.04). This relationship was seen in the older subgroup ( r = ‐0.70, p = 0.05), but not in the younger group ( r = ‐0.34, p = 0.26). In contrast, the younger group showed a significant positive correlation between rCBF and increases in acetate levels ( r = 0.71, p < 0.01), which was not seen in the older group ( r = ‐0.02, p = 0.96). These findings suggest that both acetate and alcohol contribute to the changes in CBF seen in the intoxication syndrome and that their relative influence is age‐dependent.