Does alcohol consumption affect brain water content?
18th May 2021
Johanna K. Furtmann, Thorsten Sichtermann, Ana-Maria Oros-Peusquens, Sven Dekeyzer, N. Jon Shah, Martin Wiesmann and Omid Nikoubashman
It is known that consumption of alcohol influences the water balance in the brain, and while the impact of chronic alcohol misuse on cerebral water content has been the subject of several studies, less is known about the effects of acute alcohol misuse.
This study investigated the effects of acute alcohol intoxication on cerebral water content using a quantitative magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) sequence at 3 Tesla. Cerebral water content was measure in 20 healthy volunteers before alcohol consumption and after reaching a breath alcohol concentration of 1%. Water content was assessed for the whole brain, grey and white matter and for regions known to be most affected by acute or chronic alcohol misuse (the occipital and frontal lobes, thalamus and pons).
The results showed that quantitative cerebral water content did not differ significantly (P ≥ 0.07) before and after acute alcohol consumption, indicating that a moderate to slightly-severe breath alcohol concentration of approximately 1% is not associated with cerebral oedema.
Original publication