Experiment 1 tested the hypothesis that chronic consumption of ethanol, in the presence of good nutrition, is associated with impairments in memory. Rats were fed a vitamin-fortified ethanol-Sustagen diet with 35% ethanol-derived calories for 150 days. Two control groups were used. The first was pair fed a Sustagen mix in which sucrose had been substituted for ethanol. The second control group received ad lib access to standard laboratory chow and water. All animals were then placed on the chow and water diet for six weeks prior to testing in an eight-arm radial maze. There was a significant, but modest, difference between groups in the number of trials to reach a criterion level of seven correct from the first eight choices and all eight correct in ten choices. However, there were no differences between the groups when delays (0, 5, 20, 60, 120 and 240 minutes) were imposed between the 4th and 5th choices. In Experiment 2, a thiamin-deficient group was compared with pair-fed and ad lib control groups on the same task. The thiamin-deficient group took more trials to reach criterion but the groups did not differ in the delay testing phase. The results are discussed in the context of reference/working memory distinctions, and the literature on remediation of cognitive deficits associated with alcoholism.

Alcohol Amnestic Disorder↗

PubMedDate not supplied

Wernicke's encephalopathy and Korsakoff's psychosis: to fortify or not to fortify?

The conventional wisdom suggests that Korsakoff's psychosis, an amnesic disorder associated with prolonged alcohol consumption, is the chronic outcome of a thiamin deficiency first exhibited as Wernicke's encephalopathy. The present paper describes the debate in Australia over whether flour and alcoholic beverages should be fortified with thiamin, in an attempt to prevent Wernicke's encephalopathy and thus Korsakoff's psychosis. We conclude that the scientific evidence linking Wernicke's encephalopathy and Korsakoff's psychosis is tenuous. Certainly, it is not sufficient to support what would amount to mass medication.

Alcohol Amnestic Disorder↗