The Biology of Alcoholism: Volume 2: Physiology and Behavior

573 Pages·1972·23.25 MB·English

by  Robert G. Grenell (auth.)

THE BIOLOGY OF
ALCOHOLISM
Volume 2: Physiology and Behavior
THE BIOLOGY OF ALCOHOLISM
Volume 1: Biochemistry
Volume 2: Physiology and Behavior
Volume 3: Clinical Pathology
Volume 4: Social Biology
THE BIOLOGY OF
ALCOHOLISM
Volume 2: Physiology and Behavior
Edited by
Benjamin Kissin and Henri Begleiter
Division 0/ Alcoholism and Drug Dependence
Department of Psychiatry
State University of New York
Downstate Medical Center
Brooklyn, New York
~
PLENUM PRESS. NEW YORK-LONDON. 1972
Library of Congress Catalog Card Number 74·131883
ISBN-13: 978-1-4684-0897-3 e-ISBN-13: 978-1-4684-0895-9
DOl: 10.1007/978-1-4684-0895-9
© 1972 Plenum Press, New York
Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1st edition 1990
A Division of Plenum Publishing Corporation
227 West 17th Street, New York, N.Y.I0011
United Kingdom edition published by Plenum Press, London
A Division of Plenum Publishing Company, Ltd.
Davis House (4th Floor) , 8 Scrubs Lane, Harlesden, NWlO 6SE, London, England
All rights reserved
No part of this publication may be reproduced in any form
without written permission from the publisher
Contributors to This Volume
Nicholas P. Armenti, The Center of Alcohol Studies and Department of Psychology,
Rutgers University, The State University of New Jersey, New Brunswick, New
Jersey
James D. Beard, Alcohol Research Center, Tennessee Psychiatric Hospital and
Institute, Department of Physiology and Biophysics, University of Tennessee
College of Basic Medical Sciences, Memphis, Tennessee
Henri Begleiter, Department of Psychiatry, State University of New York,
Downstate Medical Center, Brookryn, New York
David A. Callison, Thudichum Psychiatric Research Laboratory, Galesburg State
Research Hospital, Galesburg, Illinois
John A. Carpenter, The Center of Alcohol Studies and Department of Psychology,
Rutgers University, The State University of New Jersey, New Brunswick,
New Jersey
F. L. Fitz-Gerald, Miama, Florida
Ricardo Garcia-Mullin, Department of Neurology, University of Maryland
School of Medicine, Baltimore, Maryland
Robert G. Grenell, Professor and Director, Division of Neurobiology, Psychiatric
Institute, University of Maryland, Baltimore, Maryland
Harold E. Himwich, Thudichum Psychiatric Research Laboratory, Galesburg
State Research Hospital, Galesburg, Illinois
v
vi Contributors to This Volume
David H. Knott, Alcoholism Treatment Center, Tennessee Psychiatric Hospital
and Institute, Departments of Physiology and Biophysics and of Psychiatry,
University of Tennessee College of Medicine, Memphis, Tennessee
Richard F. Mayer, Department of Neurology, University of Nlaryland School
of Medicine, Baltimore, Maryland
Nancy K. Mello, Chief, Section on Comparative Neurobehavior, National Center
for the Prevention and Control of Alcoholism, National Institute of Mental
Health, Chevy Chase, l11.aryland
R. D. Myers, Laboratory of Neuropsychology, Purdue University, Lafayette,
Indiana
Paul Naitoh, Navy Medical Neuropsychiatric Research Unit, San Diego, California
Donald A. Overton, Department of Psychiatry, Temple Medical Center, and
Eastern Pennsylvania Psychiatric Institute, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Arthur Platz, Department of Psychiatry, State University of New York, Downstate
Medical Center, Brooklyn, New York
David A. Rodgers, Department of Psychiatry, Cleveland Clinic, Cleveland, ,ohio
A. Salamy, Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, University of
Oklahoma Medical Center, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma
J. St.-Laurent, Associate Professor of Psychiatry, School of Medicine, University
of Sherbrooke, Canada
W. L. Veale, Laboratory of Neuropsychology, Purdue University, Lafayette,
Indiana
M. Vogel-Sprott, University of Waterloo, Waterloo, Ontario, Canada
H. L. Williams, Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, University
of Oklahoma Medical Center, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma
The following was inadvertently omitted from the List of Contributors to
Volume 1:
Peter E. Stokes, Psychobiology Study Unit, Payne Whitney Clinic, Department
of Psychiatry, New York Hospital, Cornell Medical Center, New York,
New York
Preface
Alcoholism is a uniquely human condition. Although some forms of alcohol
dependence can be induced experimentally in a variety of laboratory animals, the
complete spectrum of alcoholism with all of its physical, psychological, and social
implications occurs only in man. The special quality of this relationship becomes
more significant when one considers that the manifestations of most physical
disease syndromes in animals and man are more similar than they are different.
The uniqueness of alcoholism lies in the fact that it is one of the few physical
diseases which reflects at all levels the problems of individuals coping with the
complexities of human society.
In order to present a more coherent picture of these complex relationships,
we have attempted to impose a logical sequence upon the material. This sequence
lies along a dual parameter-from the physical to the social and from the theor
etical to the empirical. Consequently, it was natural for the first volume in this
series to deal with biochemistry, the most basic and physical aspect of the inter
action of alcohol and man. It is equally natural for this, the second volume, to
deal with physiology and behavior, for these levels of phenomenology-partic
ularly the latter-are already more empirical and psychological in their mani
festations. Finally, the third volume, clinical pathology, describes the disease
itself, with all of the medical and social implications carried in the word
"alcoholism. "
However, when we had completed the tables of contents for the first three
volumes, we realized that we had omitted entirely a description of the impact of
the disease alcoholism on society as a whole. This lack became so apparent that
vii
viii Preface
we have felt obliged to try to remedy it. Toward that end we have undertaken
a fourth volume on social biology, to deal with the broad social consequences of
alcoholism. The term "social biology" as it is used here does not, perhaps,
connote the usual meaning, but it does signify the relationship of the social
phenomenology of alcohol abuse to the fundamental underlying biological
mechanism described in the earlier volumes. To this extent, it helps to complete
the cycle. The addition of this fourth and last volume will contribute, we hope, to
the accomplishment of our original goal-to present a comprehensive and defini
tive description of the complex interactions of the chemical substance alcohol
with man and with human society.
The present volume is of special interest in that it relates physiology to
behavior. It deals with the interaction of mechanisms at two different levels so
that the sequence is sometimes less regular than in the earlier volume. However,
we trust that the advantages of the interactional approach will compensate for
the somewhat less rigorous logic in the presentation of the material.
Benjamin Kissin
New York City, November 1971 Henri Begleiter
Contents of Volume
2
Physiology and Behavior
Contents of Volume 1 xvii
Contents of Volume 3 xxvii
Contents of Volume 4 xxix
Chapter 1
Effects of Alcohol on the Neuron
by Robert G. Grenell
Introduction .................................................. 1
The Phenomenology of Physiological Depression ................... 4
Basic Theory of Depressant Molecular Action . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
Alcohols as Depressant Molecules. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
Summary .................................................... 16
References. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
Chapter 2
Peripheral Nerve and Muscle Disorders Associated with Alcoholism
by Richard F. Mayer and Ricardo Garcia-Mullin
Introduction .................................................. 21
Peripheral Nerve. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
Clinical Description. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
ix
x Contents oC Volume 2
Studies of Nerve Conduction Velocities ....................... 26
Pathological Description of Nerve Fibers in Chronic Alcoholics
with Polyneuropathy ................................... 30
Pathogenesis of the Neuropathy Associated with Alcoholism 31
Treatment and Prognosis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
Muscle........................................................ 39
Clinical Description. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
Pathological Description of Muscle Fibers in Chronic Alcoholics . . 48
Pathogenesis of the Myopathies Associated with Alcoholism ..... 52
Treatment and Prognosis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57
Summary and Conclusions ...................................... 57
References. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59
Chapter 3
The Effects of Alcohol on Evoked Potentials of Various Parts of the
Central Nervous System of the Cat
by Harold E. Himwich and David A. Callison
Introduction .................................................. 67
Experimental Methods . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68
Acute Studies ............................................. 69
Chronic Studies ........................................... 70
Results of Various Types of Stimulation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71
Electrical Stimulation of the Radial and Sciatic Nerves..... ...... 71
Direct Cortical Stimulation ... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74
Stimulation of Subcortical Structures with Special Reference to the
Reticular Formation. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74
Auditory Stimulation ...................................... 76
Photic Stimulation ......................................... 77
Discussion and Conclusions ..................................... 78
References. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81
Chapter 4
Brain Centers of Reinforcement and Effects of Alcohol
by J. St.-Laurent
Introduction ................................................. . 85
History ..................................................... . 85
Topographic Organization ...................................... . 86
Intensity of Effect ............................................. . 87
Drive Relations 89
Autonomic Relations .......................................... . 89
Positive and Negative Reinforcement ............................ . 90