REGIONAL CEREBRAL METABOLISM IN FEMALE ALCOHOLICS OF MODERATE SEVERITY DOES NOT DIFFER FROM THAT OF CONTROLS

It is generally believed that women are more vulnerable to alcohol's t oxic effects than men. Studies in male alcoholics have consistently sh own reductions in brain glucose metabolism, However, such studies have not been done in female alcoholics, The purpose of this study was to evaluate if similar or worse brain metabolic abnormalities occurred in female alcoholics. For this purpose, we measured regional brain metab olism with positron emission tomography and [F-18]fluorodeoxyglucose I n 10 recently detoxified female alcoholics and compared it with that i n 12 age-matched female controls. There were no differences between al coholics and control females in regional brain glucose metabolism whet her we used regions of Interest analysis or statistical parameter maps methods. These results do not support a higher toxicity for the effec ts of alcohol in the female brain, as assessed with regional brain glu cose metabolism, because metabolic values in female alcoholics did not differ from those of controls, whereas metabolic values in male alcoh olics are generally lower than those in controls. However, this study is confounded by the fact that the seventy of alcohol use in these fem ale alcoholics was less than that of the male alcoholics previously in vestigated In positron emission tomography studies. Future studies in male subjects with alcoholism of moderate severity are required to add ress gender differences in sensitivity to alcohol effects In brain met abolism.