Physiological basis of alcohol induced neurotoxicity

[DistyBoi]

I have a friend that suffered a very personal trauma and has resulted to daily drinking since. Its been nearly 8 months now and he averagely gets through 20-30 units of alcohol a day. The reason that I'm posting this in ADD and not somewhere else is that he is an extremely intelligent person, he knows a lot of the basics of drug effects and risks yet seems to be in a state now where he has convinced himself that alcohol is the best way to resolve his issues. I've asked him about his alcohol use however, and he does seem slightly naive to the detrimental effects of alcohol on health. He thinks all that will happen is mild damage to his liver and possibly a gradual detrimental effect on his cognition when he is much older.

As he is the sort of person that will understand the complex terminologies about pharmacology, metabolites, recepor binding, downregulation, the chemical basis for premature neurodegenerative conditions, etc I would really like a comprehensive list of health effects from the knowledgable users here, to help me scare him away from his alcohol use. The more specific and technical the better, even if mild effects. Thanks.

 

[Epsilon Alpha]

Well for starters: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Korsakoff's_syndrome, lipid peroxidation in the brain, seizures upon abrupt cessitaion if he ever gets cut off, erectile dysfunction, obesity, cirrhosis, and did I mention ED?

Has your friend checked out therapy or had an intervention? A friend of mine's mom went down this path after her daughter suffered a TBI and she's still drinking 9 years later. I know this isn't ADD per say, but lets see where this goes.

But to keep it ADD:
-Ethanol depletes the body of B1 and choline causing very negative effects on cognition in the long run
-Ethanol disrupts the lipid bilayer of neurons and its metabolite can cause lipid peroxidation
-Ethanol royally fucks up protein transcription via a nuclear pore related mechanism
-Ethanol's metabolite acetaldehyde is a known carcinogen
-And much much more!

 

[sekio]

From a chemist's point of view, alcohol is a fairly strong solventy that likes to dissolve fats. There's lots of fats in your body that should stay there to maintian body integrity (cell membranes etc) and alcohol can damage these with chronic usage. In addition alcohol messes with the blood pH and interacts with a wide variety of ion channels and toll-like receptors. It's by no means a "clean" drug.

Also, acetaldehyde (the primary metabolite of ethanol) is a reactive compound and is incredibly toxic. It's the cause of hangovers and can cause dehydration, genetic damage, and many other fun things.