Alcohol consumption significantly influences the MR signal of frontal choline-containing compounds.

The aim of this work was to evaluate the relationship between the amount of alcohol consumption of a group of social drinkers and the magnetic resonance spectroscopy signal of choline-containing compounds (Cho) in the frontal lobe. Two independent long echo (TE = 135 ms) (1)H MRSI studies, the first comprising 24 subjects with very low alcohol consumption, the second 18 subjects with a more widespread alcohol consumption were conducted. Significant correlations of Cho measures from frontal white matter and from the anterior cingulate gyrus with alcohol consumption in the last 90 days prior to the MR examination were found. Age, gender, and smoking did not show significant effects on the metabolite measures. Partialling out the effect of the voxel white matter content did not change the correlation of choline measures with alcohol consumption. The main conclusion from the repeated finding of a positive correlation of alcohol consumption and frontal Cho signals is that monitoring for alcohol consumption is mandatory in MRS studies where pathology depended Cho changes are hypothesized.

Monitoring the effects of chronic alcohol consumption and abstinence on brain metabolism: a longitudinal proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy study.

BACKGROUND: This study focused on metabolic brain alterations in recently detoxified alcohol-dependent patients (S1) and their possible reversibility after 3 (S2) and 6 months (S3) of abstinence. METHODS: Thirty-three alcohol-dependent patients and 30 healthy control subjects were studied with multislice proton magnetic resonance spectroscopic imaging (echo time = 135 msec at 1.5 T at three time points). RESULTS: In the patient group, we found that choline-containing compounds (Ch) in three frontal and cerebellar subregions at S1 were significantly below normal, whereas N-acetyl aspartate (NAA) differences did not reach significance but showed a trend toward below-normal values in frontal white matter. Abstinent patients showed a significant increase of Ch in all subregions at S2. At S3, no further significant metabolite changes in abstinent patients compared with S2 could be detected. No significant increase of NAA could be detected at follow-up. CONCLUSIONS: The increase of the Ch signal in the follow-up measurement after 3 months in abstinent alcohol-dependent patients supports the hypotheses of an alcohol- or alcohol detoxification-induced altered cerebral metabolism of lipids in membranes or myelin, which seems to be reversible with duration of alcohol abstinence.