Associations Between Cerebellar Subregional Morphometry and Alcoholism History in Men and Women

What is it about?

Alcoholism is a widespread psychosocial and neurological affliction. We investigated how the cerebellum, a small structure in back of and below the cerebrum of the brain, is abnormal in abstinent alcoholics. We determined which parts of the cerebellum were linked with drinking history and gender. The white matter, used to conduct signals into and out of the cerebellum, was smaller in alcoholics. Three regions used for bodily movement were inversely associated with years drinking: the anterior lobe, spinocerebellum, and vestibulocerebellum. The anterior lobe was especially associated with years drinking for men. All three regions showed some evidence of recovery with sobriety. These findings show the first manually-labelled regionally specific description of how cerebellar volume is linked with alcoholism history.

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