This study aimed to identify specific psychological and brain activation responses relating to the processing of negative emotions in patients with alcohol dependency. The authors hypothesized that patients with alcohol dependency would demonstrate the abnormal functioning of brain regions involved in negative emotions. Eleven male patients diagnosed with alcohol dependence in an inpatient alcohol treatment facility and 13 social drinkers with similar demographics were scanned using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) as they viewed film clips that evoked negative emotions. During exposure to negative emotional stimuli, the control group evinced significantly greater activity in the right anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) in comparison to patients with alcohol dependency. Correlation analyses demonstrated a negative association in the relationship between beta values from the right ACC and amygdala in participants classified in the control group. No statistically significant relationship was observed for blood oxygenation level-dependent (BOLD) changes between the two regions in the patient group during the elicitation of negative emotions. On the other hand, patients exhibited a greater activation of the amygdala as negative emotions were induced. These results suggest that alcoholism presents pathophysiology of brain activation that is distinct from the responses of healthy individuals functioning as controls.

Ethanol actions in the amygdala formation may underlie in part the reinforcing effects of ethanol consumption. Previously a physiological phenomenon in the basolateral amygdala (BLA) that is dependent on neuronal network activity, compound postsynaptic potentials (cPSPs) were characterized. Effects of acute ethanol application on the frequency of cPSPs were subsequently investigated. Whole cell patch clamp recordings were performed from identified projection neurons in a rat brain slice preparation containing the amygdala formation. Acute ethanol exposure had complex effects on cPSP frequency, with both increases and decreases dependent on concentration, duration of exposure and age of the animal. Ethanol produces complex biphasic effects on synaptically-driven network activity in the BLA. These findings may relate to subjective effects of ethanol on arousal and anxiolysis in humans.