Elsevier

Psychiatry Research

Volume 47, Issue 1, April 1993, Pages 69-77
Psychiatry Research

Motoric signs of CNS dysfunction associated with alcohol and cocaine withdrawal

https://doi.org/10.1016/0165-1781(93)90056-MGet rights and content

Abstract

Measures of hand tremor and body sway were recorded from 6 alcohol-dependent (AD) and 16 cocaine-dependent (CD) patients after 1, 3, and 12 weeks of verified abstinence. The same measures were recorded from 15 nonpatient control subjects after comparable intervals. Hand tremor was transduced via an accelerometer. Body sway was transduced by a force-sensitive platform. Analyses revealed different patterns of motoric dysfunction in the AD and CD groups. AD patients exhibited enhanced hand tremor during a pointing task and enhanced body sway. Both of these abnormalities remitted with continued abstinence. CD patients exhibited enhanced and unchanging levels of resting tremor across the first 12 weeks of abstinence, but they had normal levels of body sway and action tremor. These results are interpreted as reflicting a subclinical cerebellar dysfunction in recovering AD patients, and a subclinical extrapyramidal dysfunction in the CD counterparts.

References (19)

There are more references available in the full text version of this article.

Cited by (45)

  • Perspectives on fronto-fugal circuitry from human imaging of alcohol use disorders

    2017, Neuropharmacology
    Citation Excerpt :

    In addition to identifying volume compromise in nodes of the frontocerebellar circuit, further support for the involvement of this network in AUD (Sullivan et al., 2003a; Sullivan and Pfefferbaum, 2005) emerged from work seeking a neural substrate for ataxia. Body sway, measured with posturographical recordings from a force platform, is far greater in AUD individuals, even after 1 month of sobriety, than in age-matched, low drinking individuals (e.g., Bauer, 1993; Diener et al., 1984a; Ledin and Odkvist_1991; Scholz et al., 1986; Sullivan et al., 2000a). Correlational analyses revealed that a longer sway path during quiet standing in AUD is associated with a smaller volume of the anterior superior vermis of the cerebellum (Sullivan et al., 2000a, 2010a), recapitulating findings observed in patients with lesions of the cerebellar vermis (Diener et al., 1984b).

  • Movement Dysfunction as a Neuropathology of Illicit Stimulant Abuse

    2016, Neuropathology of Drug Addictions and Substance Misuse Volume 3: General Processes and Mechanisms, Prescription Medications, Caffeine and Areca, Polydrug Misuse, Emerging Addictions and Non-Drug Addictions
  • The effect of cocaine on rotarod performance in male C57BL/6J mice

    2013, Physiology and Behavior
    Citation Excerpt :

    However, given the design of the present study it is not possible to rule out a potential influence of cocaine withdrawal on motor learning. In fact there is evidence for changes in hand tremor and body sway in cocaine-dependent patients after a period of abstinence (protracted withdrawal) [25]. Therefore, it would be prudent to explicitly examine the effect of cocaine withdrawal (both acute and protracted) on motor learning in future studies.

View all citing articles on Scopus
View full text