ACUTE EFFECTS OF ALCOHOL ADMINISTRATION ON REGIONAL CEREBRAL BLOOD-FLOW - THE ROLE OF ACETATE

The effect of alcohol intoxication on regional cerebral blood flow (rC BF) is unclear. The few published studies provide a mixed picture of a lcohol effects, suggesting that blood flow increases at low doses and decreases at higher doses of alcohol. Using the cerebral blood flow ag ent (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 rC BF in two age-stratified groups of healthy, nonalcoholic men (12 age 2 2-37 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 H MPAO 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 = -0.3 4, p = 0.26). In contrast, the younger group showed a significant posi tive correlation between rCBF and increases in acetate levers (r = 0.7 1, 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 t o the changes in CBF seen in the intoxication syndrome and that their relative influence is age-dependent.