does alcohol kill brain cells?

[gib65]

According to this article, the belief that alcohol kills brain cells is a myth. I thought this was a scientifically established fact. Is it not?

[Weirdmaskman]

No, it is not a scientifically established fact. Alcohol does not kill the brain cell from my finding (online).

Though it might have one or two potential risks with time as it tends to trigger the activation of varieties of genes that can influence the activities of the brain, but the brain seems to repair themselves after chronic alcoholic abuse.

The bottleneck I just face in believing this is the fact that a drunk person loses his consciousness which the brain play a big role to balance.

[LawfulBlade]

There's something of a war of words going on here. Technically speaking, the cell death is amount and duration dependent, and not due to the alcohol directly, in either case.

 

As it's a CNS depressant, with enough of it during one night, assuming you don't die, you could easily be left with permanent brain damage (through cell death), due to loss of circulation/lack of breathing. With enough consumed over a long enough duration, brain cell death may also occur, via a number of paths (lack of thiamine, high concentrations of circulating ammonia, etc.). In both cases, it's due to things downstream of the alcohol consumption, rather than the alcohol directly, but you could make an argument either way as to whether alcohol "caused" the cell death or not.

[Moontanman]

Only the weak ones

[venkyreddy]

but after long time of alcohol consumption some turn into mental illness like korassoffs psychosis..., memory impairments bcoz of THIAMINE deficiency produced on prolonged alcohol intake THIAMINE is a vitamin acts as a coenzyme for many vital chemical reactions happen in our body........

No, it is not a scientifically established fact. Alcohol does not kill the brain cell from my finding (online).

Though it might have one or two potential risks with time as it tends to trigger the activation of varieties of genes that can influence the activities of the brain, but the brain seems to repair themselves after chronic alcoholic abuse.

The bottleneck I just face in believing this is the fact that a drunk person loses his consciousness which the brain play a big role to balance.

 

 

 

[Josh M]

Only the weak ones

 

More aptly put, "only under weak circumstances."

[UltimateBioGeek]

I did a short research paper on this topic for one of my undergrad courses, specifically on how alcohol affects the NMDA receptor. Long story short, GABAergic and NEergic neurons normally regulate glutamate using NMDA receptors. However, alcohol blocks NMDA receptors causing disinhibition of excitatory pathways, leading to excitotoxicity. When pregnant rats were administered alcohol, their infant rats displayed fetal alcohol syndrome and increased apoptosis. However, the cells damaged from excitotoxicity usually can repair themselves but if not, alternate neural connections are formed. One thing to keep in mind though is age because mature adult brains tend to exhibit greater sensitivity than immature non-adult brains, although this can be attributed to the massive redundancy in immature non-adult brains that have not yet undergone natural widespread apoptosis. I suppose a limitation to this is the concentration of NMDA receptors varies across brain regions and as we know, the brain does not have simply one type of neuron. Overall, there is an observable excitotoxic effect only in certain brain regions with a high concentration of NMDA receptors, such as the hippocampus, which helps to explain the cognitive impairments seen in Korsakoff's Syndrome.

 

Concise pathway model

 

[Sorcerer]

lol hard to get a straight answer from anyone, guess it goes back to the need to find 'evil' in a substance/object rather than a persons actions.

 

I think lawfulblade gave the best response. Alcohol in excessive ammounts, enough to make u unconcious, will indirectly kill brain cells.

 

@ ultimatebiogeek, as interesting as that was, is that a yes or no? lol

[Moontanman]

it depends on what you are asking, in dilute amounts alcohol induces drunkenness which could lead to death like in a car crash, but alcohol will indeed kill brain cells more directly by death by alcohol poisoning. It is also addictive in some people.

[Sorcerer]

Yes/No Question. Does alcohol kill brain cells? Perhaps better said "Does alcohol DIRECTLY kill brain cells?"

 

idk the answer, but certainly indirectly it can kill brain cells, but so do guns and motor vehicles, as u said moontanman.

[Moontanman]

Yes/No Question. Does alcohol kill brain cells? Perhaps better said "Does alcohol DIRECTLY kill brain cells?"

 

idk the answer, but certainly indirectly it can kill brain cells, but so do guns and motor vehicles, as u said moontanman.

 

 

Yeah but you have to admit that nothing kills brain cells quite like guns, autos, and alcohol....

[Sorcerer]

idk what if u used guns while on methamphetamine.... and drove while on a speedball.....

[Josh M]

Yes/No Question.

 

Would it still be physiology if it could be reduced to this level of simplicity?

[Joshua201]

There's something of a war of words going on here. Technically speaking, the cell death is amount and duration dependent, and not due to the alcohol directly, in either case.

 

As it's a CNS depressant, with enough of it during one night, assuming you don't die, you could easily be left with permanent brain damage (through cell death), due to loss of circulation/lack of breathing. With enough consumed over a long enough duration, brain cell death may also occur, via a number of paths (lack of thiamine, high concentrations of circulating ammonia, etc.). In both cases, it's due to things downstream of the alcohol consumption, rather than the alcohol directly, but you could make an argument either way as to whether alcohol "caused" the cell death or not.

good point

 

Only the weak ones

seriously ??

 

I did a short research paper on this topic for one of my undergrad courses, specifically on how alcohol affects the NMDA receptor. Long story short, GABAergic and NEergic neurons normally regulate glutamate using NMDA receptors. However, alcohol blocks NMDA receptors causing disinhibition of excitatory pathways, leading to excitotoxicity. When pregnant rats were administered alcohol, their infant rats displayed fetal alcohol syndrome and increased apoptosis. However, the cells damaged from excitotoxicity usually can repair themselves but if not, alternate neural connections are formed. One thing to keep in mind though is age because mature adult brains tend to exhibit greater sensitivity than immature non-adult brains, although this can be attributed to the massive redundancy in immature non-adult brains that have not yet undergone natural widespread apoptosis. I suppose a limitation to this is the concentration of NMDA receptors varies across brain regions and as we know, the brain does not have simply one type of neuron. Overall, there is an observable excitotoxic effect only in certain brain regions with a high concentration of NMDA receptors, such as the hippocampus, which helps to explain the cognitive impairments seen in Korsakoff's Syndrome.

 

Concise pathway model

 

GABAnergic intended?