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Even very moderate drinking can cause negative, long-lasting changes in brain functioning. Diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) measures the diffusion of water in the brain, and chronic alcohol use can induce neuroinflammation and DTI abnormalities in both gray and white matter. In a series of animal and human experiments, researchers tested the hypothesis that the neuroinflammation induced by chronic alcohol consumption causes changes in the extracellular space (ECS) geometry of gray matter, thereby influencing long-range diffusion of neurotransmitters (e.g., glutamate, dopamine) across the altered ECS.
Increased mean diffusivity was widespread in the gray matter of 49 people with alcohol use disorder compared with 35 healthy controls and in alco…