알콜중독이 강력한 이유

The researchers have here observed that alcohol may increase its addictive capacity by changing the geometry of the brain, specifically the gray matter, as shown by this translational study carried out in rats and humans, published today in the journal Science Advances

According to their observations, the cells of the immune system that reside in the brain, called microglia, are responsible for the change in geometry that the gray substance undergoes in the presence of alcohol

Alcohol, as a harmful substance, causes the activation of these defense cells, which leads to a change in their biochemical characteristics and in their shape, which changes from being branched to a more rounded or amoeboid shape. This change in shape alters the geometry of the extracellular space, allowing a greater diffusion of substances that would be limited in the absence of alcohol. One of these substances is dopamine, a neurotransmitter that is particularly important in the processes of reward and addiction.

In a previous paper, published in April last year in JAMA Psychiatry, this same group showed that alcohol continues to damage the brain even after stopping drinking. That work already reflected an increase in diffusivity in the brain due to alcohol, but the researchers did not yet know why. Now the new study, published in Science Advances, solves the mystery by showing that the increase in diffusivity is due to the activation of the brain's immune cells

 

alcohol이 microglia를 activation 시켜서 모양이 변하고 extracellular 환경이 변해서 dopamine 같은 물질들의 diffusity가 올라간다고 한다. 그래서 중독적이라고 한다.

 

reference

Silvia De Santis et al. Chronic alcohol consumption alters extracellular space geometry and transmitter diffusion in the brain, Science Advances (2020). DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.aba0154