Neuroimaging discovers alterations in brain circuits that contribute to alcohol addiction

A novel neuroimaging study provides the first evidence that a small region of the brain, called the bed nucleus of the stria terminalis, has gender-based network structural connectivity differences in early abstinence from alcohol. Through the brain-imaging technique Diffusion Tensor Imaging, the researchers used 3D modeling to identify the structural nerve tract connections of the BNST, which regulates stress responses and anxiety-like behaviors during abstinence from alcohol. This is the first time that BNST structural networks in early abstinence have been studied in humans.