Brain modifications after acute alcohol consumption analyzed by resting state fMRI Federica Spagnolli a, ⁎, Roberto Cerini a , Nicolò Cardobi a , Marco Barillari a , Paolo Manganotti b , Silvia Storti b , Roberto Pozzi Mucelli a a Department of Radiology, “Gianbattista Rossi” Hospital, University of Verona, 37134 Verona, Italy b Department of Neurological, Neuropsychological, Morphological and Movement Sciences, Section of Clinical Neurology, “Gianbattista Rossi” Hospital, University of Verona, 37134 Verona, Italy abstract article info Article history: Received 18 November 2012 Revised 14 March 2013 Accepted 9 April 2013 Keywords: fMRI Resting state Alcohol Visual system Reward brain circuitry Independent component analysis Resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) is a recent breakthrough in neuroimaging research able to describe “in vivo” the spontaneous baseline neuronal activity characterized by blood oxygen level dependent (BOLD) signal fluctuations at slow frequency (0.01–0.1 Hz) that, in the absence of any task, forms spatially distributed functional connectivity networks, called resting state networks (RSNs). The aim of this study was to investigate, in the young and healthy population, the changing of the RSNs after acute ingestion of an alcohol dose able to determine a blood concentration (0.5 g/L) that barely exceeds the legal limits for driving in the majority of European Countries. Fifteen healthy volunteers underwent two fMRI sessions using a 1.5 T MR scanner before and after alcohol oral consumption. The main sequence acquired was EPI 2D BOLD, one per each session. To prevent the excessive alcohol consumption the subjects underwent the estimation of blood rate by breath test and after the stabilization of blood alcohol level (BAL) at 0.5 g/L the subjects underwent the second fMRI session. Functional data elaboration was carried out using the probabilistic independent component analysis (PICA). Spatial maps so obtained were further organized, with MELODIC multisession temporal concatenation FSL option, in a cluster representing the group of pre-alcohol sessions and the group of post-alcohol sessions, followed by the dual regression approach in order to evaluate the increase or decrease in terms of connectivity in the RSNs between the two sessions at group level. The results we obtained reveal that acute consumption of alcohol reduces in a significant way the BOLD signal fluctuations in the resting brain selectively in the sub-callosal cortex (SCC), in left temporal fusiform cortex (TFC) and left inferior temporal gyrus (ITG), which are cognitive regions known to be part of the reward brain network and the ventral visual system. © 2013 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. 1. Introduction Resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) is a recent breakthrough in neuroimaging research able to describe “in vivo” the complex functional architecture of the brain at rest. Several evidences support a spontaneous and continuous baseline neuronal activity characterized by blood oxygen level dependent (BOLD) [1] signal fluctuations at slow frequency (0.01–0.1 Hz) [2] that, in the absence of any input and output task, forms spatially distributed functional connectivity networks, called resting state networks (RSNs). Each RSN is characterized by its own specific temporal and spatial signal coherence [3,4] and is specialized in a distinct function, partially overlapping with those functional networks well studied by neurophysiological means thanks to active and passive tasks [5]. The major RSNs so far documented are five (default mode, visual, auditory, sensory-motor and attentive parietal–frontal networks) [6–11]. They are very sensitive to the task, both cognitive and sensory-motor, and they can be modulated by it in a selective way; therefore the attentive parietal–frontal network is very sensitive to the performance able to modulate the attentive state. RSNs are reliable and reproducible [12]; they underlie a cortico-cortical structural connectivity visualized with tractography by means of diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) [13–15] and are correlated with electro-encephalographic (EEG) [16,17] rhythms. The best knowledge of the functional architecture of the healthy brain at rest allows to detect a change of it to a physiological [18–23] pathological [24,25] or pharmacological [26–28] alteration, even predicting emotional behaviours and cognitive performances [29–31]. Thanks to its high spatial resolution, BOLD fMRI is a non-invasive technique already employed in drug research by means of a task-related design. The effects of alcohol intoxication are most marked in situations involving a stimulus that lead to a competition for processing resources. Alcohol may have specific effects on brain processing involving cognitive control of conflicting stimuli, interfering with Magnetic Resonance Imaging 31 (2013) 1325–1330 ⁎ Corresponding author. E-mail address: federicaspagnolli@libero.it (F. Spagnolli). 0730-725X/$ – see front matter © 2013 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.mri.2013.04.007 Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Magnetic Resonance Imaging journal homepage: www.mrijournal.com