How Alcohol Affects the Central Nervous System WisdomCard™
Our Guides and Physician Review team have organized the Top 10 Health Resources on How Alcohol Affects the Central Nervous System and compiled helpful research notes below.
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Research Notes on How Alcohol Affects the Central Nervous System
Alcohol can affect several parts of the brain, but in general, alcohol contracts brain tissue and depresses the central nervous system. When alcohol reaches the brain, it interferes with communication between nerve cells, by interacting with the receptors on some cells.1 The alcohol suppresses excitatory nerve pathway activity and increases inhibitory nerve pathway activity. Among other actions, alcohol enhances the effects of the inhibitory neurotransmitter GABA. Enhancing an inhibitor has the effect of making a person sluggish. Also, alcohol weakens the excitatory neurotransmitter glutamine, which enhances the sluggishness even farther.2
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Research Notes References
- ↑ ScienceDaily: Alcohol's Effects On Gene Expression In The Central Nervous System (Feb. 25, 2005)
- ↑ KidsHealth: Alcohol
About this WisdomCard
- Contributor: Chris Miller
- Reviewer: Tara Salamone
- Supervised by: The OrganizedWisdom Physician Review Team
- Last update: Nov. 20, 2009
Each WisdomCard is handcrafted by our team of physician-guided health advocates. Our goal is to make it easy for you to find the most useful health resources for any health topic. In addition to filtering out spam and bad links, WisdomCards highlight tips and warnings, such as:
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About WisdomCard
Meet our contributors and reviewers
- Contributor: Chris Miller
- Reviewer: Tara Salamone
- Supervised by: The OrganizedWisdom Physician Review Team
- Redirects: Central nervous system damage
- Last update: Sep. 28, 2009
Each WisdomCard is handcrafted by our team of physician-guided health advocates. Our goal is to make it easy for you to find the most useful health resources for any health topic by filtering out spam and bad links.
