Chronic alcoholism in the absence of Wernicke-Korsakoff syndrome and cirrhosis does not result in the loss of serotonergic neurons from the median raphe nucleus

被引:11
作者
Baker, KG
Halliday, GM
Kril, JJ
Harper, CG
机构
[1] PRINCE WALES MED RES INST, RANDWICK, NSW 2031, AUSTRALIA
[2] PRINCESS ROYAL HOSP, DEPT ANAT PATHOL, CAMPERDOWN, NSW 2050, AUSTRALIA
关键词
alcohol; serotonin; neuropathology; median raphe nucleus; Wernicke-Korsakoff; cirrhosis; thiamine deficiency;
D O I
10.1007/BF02237959
中图分类号
R5 [内科学];
学科分类号
1002 ; 100201 ;
摘要
Previous studies have identified alcohol, thiamine deficiency and liver disease as contributing to the neuropathology of alcohol-related brain damage. In order to examine the effects of alcohol toxicity and thiamine deficiency on serotonergic neurons in the median raphe nucleus (MnR), alcoholic and previously published Wernicke-Korsakoff syndrome (WKS) cases without liver disease, were compared with age-matched non-alcoholic controls. While there was no difference between the estimated number of serotonergic neurons in either controls or alcoholics without WKS (means of 63,010+/-8,900 and 59,560+/-8,010 respectively), a substantial loss of serotonergic neurons was previously found in WKS cases (mean of 19,05+/-13,140). Further analysis. revealed a significant difference in the maximum daily alcohol consumption between these groups. However, analysis of covariance showed that the number or serotonergic neurons in the MnR did not correlate with the amount of alcohol consumed. Therefore, our results suggest that cell loss in the MnR can be attributed to thiamine deficiency rather than alcohol per se.
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页码:217 / 227
页数:11
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