Study Shows How Alcohol Alters Brain Signaling, Impairing Cognitive Flexibility and Learning
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Researchers at the Texas A&M University College of Medicine have shed new light on how chronic alcohol use alters brain signaling pathways, specifically focusing on how it impairs cognitive flexibility. Their findings, recently published in Science Advances, demonstrate the significant role of cholinergic interneurons (CINs) in this process.
Researchers demonstrated that alcohol disrupts the brain’s ability to adapt by altering the burst-pause firing patterns of cholinergic interneurons —specialized neurons that release acetylcholine, a key neurotransmitter. cholinergic interneurons are critical gatekeepers in the brain’s striatum, influencing reward-driven learning and motivation by modulating dopamine signaling.
Using advanced tools such as optogenetics, which uses light to control cells, the researchers uncovered that stimulating cholinergic interneurons in animal models of chronic alcohol exposure produced an altered firing pattern compared to models without chronic alcohol exposure. Normally, cholinergic interneurons fire in a “burst-pause” pattern: a quick burst of activity followed by a pause, which is essential for learning new behaviors and adapting to change. However, in alcohol-exposed models, this firing pattern was significantly disrupted, with shorter and weaker pauses, impairing critical learning process such as reversal leaning.
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