Posted by pseudoname on April 12, 2006, at 10:06:12
‘Scientific American: Mind’ has an article online this month that summarizes the changes chronic alcohol consumption makes in the brain. Nothing new, but it's really readable. It tells about motivational areas “lighting up” when recovering alcoholics look at ads for booze, and what's going on upstairs during withdrawal symptoms.
Predictably, alcoholics have fewer dopamine D2 receptors because alcohol causes an oversupply of dopamine, but I was surprised to read that they develop MORE endorphin receptors. I would've thought fewer of those, too. Why would it be fewer? Maybe it's a typo?
The article is available free for now.
• “Staying Sober: Better understanding of how alcohol alters brain chemistry reveals mechanisms for beating dependency” by Andreas Heinz. ‘Scientific American: Mind’ (April 2006)
http://www.sciammind.com/print_version.cfm?articleID=000DE85A-5630-1429-898483414B7F0000
poster:pseudoname
thread:632118
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