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Sunday, April 8, 2007

Gray matter volume abnormalities and externalizing symptoms in subjects at high risk for alcohol dependence
Addiction Biology
Volume 12 Issue 1 Page 122 - March 2007

Reduced right amygdala volumes have been reported in young, alcohol-naïve subjects at high risk (HR) for alcohol dependence. The differences in brain morphometry have been associated with an excess of externalizing behaviors in these subjects. This may reflect a neurobiological vulnerability to alcohol dependence.

HR subjects had significantly smaller volumes of superior frontal, cingulate and parahippocampal gyri, amygdala, thalamus and cerebellum. These gray matter volumes correlated negatively with externalizing symptoms scores.

Subjects at HR for alcoholism have reduced volumes of critical areas of brain gray matter, which are associated with increased externalizing symptoms. These represent key endophenotypes of alcoholism.


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