Science: Solve the mystery of alcohol addiction, drinking alcohol changes the shape of the outer cell of the brain and the spread of the mass estots in the brain.

Author: nagashi alcoholic beverage is one of the most important drinks, with nearly 2 billion consumers worldwide. However, on the other hand, drinking brings a huge health burden to human beings - drinking causes about 10% disability adjusted life years (DALYs).more importantly, many studies in recent years have shown that even moderate drinking can not avoid the long-term adverse effects of alcohol on brain function.in fact, alcohol has a strong ability to induce neural adaptation, thus promoting a strong desire to drink, referred to as "alcohol addiction". However, there are few studies on the negative effects of alcohol addiction on individual life.recently, researchers from the Spanish Institute of neuroscience published a research paper entitled "chronic alcohol consumption alterers extractable space geometry and transmitter diffusion in the brain" in science advances.this study has proved that chronic drinking for a long time can increase the diffusion rate of extracellular space (ECS) of gray matter, and then gradually increase the concentration of neurotransmitters (such as dopamine), which may be a new mechanism of alcohol addiction.previous studies have shown that alcohol can alter the diffusion of extracellular space (ECS) in the gray matter of the brain, which is important for alcohol addiction and is known to be mediated by glutamate, monoamine, and peptide neurotransmitters - by interacting with receptors to form a hormone like signaling mechanism in the brain.(2) in the study, the subjects were divided into two groups: the control group and the control group Immunohistochemical evaluation of extracellular matrix proteins and glial markers after death; 4) direct interference with the microglial pool of rats to demonstrate its adequacy for the observed DTI phenomenon; and (5) numerical method for the diffusion of dopamine in healthy and alcohol exposed gray matter ECs.among them, diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) is a new method to describe the brain structure, and is also a special form of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). It can measure the diffusion of water in the brain parenchyma, and detect the brain microstructure abnormalities caused by excessive drinking before the macro structure changes.the researchers found that there was a general increase in the average diffusion coefficient in the gray matter of the brain in chronic drinkers and rats, and these changes occurred shortly after drinking and continued until the early withdrawal period.in the rat model, this increase in the mean diffusion rate (MD) of gray matter was accompanied by a decrease in the curvature of ECs, and histological analysis indicated that this was related to microglial response.it is worth noting that microglia are the key regulators of brain alcohol response.in response, the researchers said: "once the microglial response associated with alcohol is understood and can be interfered with, DTI may provide easily available biomarkers to detect early warning signals of alcohol addiction or guide individualized treatment."in addition, the team also simulated the diffusion rate of dopamine in ECs and found that chronic drinking increased the concentration of neurotransmitters (such as dopamine) over time, which was related to the increase of ESC diffusion rate.therefore, they speculated that the increase of ESC diffusion rate may be a new mechanism of alcohol addiction.in conclusion, this study demonstrated that chronic drinking for a long time in humans and rats can affect microglia in the brain, thereby increasing the diffusivity and neurotransmitter concentration in gray matter ESC, and the synergistic effect of the two will eventually lead to alcohol addiction.at the same time, this study is expected to continue to explore, understand and ultimately reverse these changes induced by alcohol, which will help to develop more effective treatment and intervention measures for alcohol addiction.related reading: Science sub: people who drink and blush have a high risk of developing gastric cancer, and they all share the same gene mutation. Science sub Journal: multiple new genes affecting alcohol consumption are found, and large-scale genome analysis reveals the root causes of high and low alcohol consumption