Pathophysiology
- The severity of alcohol withdrawal symptoms are thought to result from genetic predisposition, the amount of alcohol taken daily and the duration of sustained ethanol use.
- Acute alcohol intoxication produces CNS depression secondary to an enhanced inhibitory GABAergic neurotransmission (via GABAA receptors) and to a reduced excitatory glutamatergic activity through inhibition of N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) receptors.
- Chronic CNS exposure to alcohol produces adaptive changes in several neurotransmitter systems, including GABA, glutamate and norepinephrine pathways necessary to maintain neurochemical equilibrium due to alcohol-induced destabilization.
- Chronic alcohol use induces reduction . . .
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