Morphological signs of ethanol poisoning, alcohol abstinence and chronic alcoholic intoxication in the mesocorticolimbic dopaminergic system

Forensic medical diagnostics of ethanol poisoning, alcohol abstinence, and chronic alcoholic intoxication of the mesocorticolimbic dopaminergic system remains an unresolved problem and encounters difficulties. This situation is due not only to the marked vulnerability of the neurons of the dopaminergic system but also to the fact that its mechanisms are poorly understood. The objective of the present work was to substantiate and develop diagnostic criteria for ethanol poisoning, alcohol abstinence, and chronic alcoholic intoxication of the neurons both in the mesocorticolimbic dopaminergic system and in other brain regions. The object of the study was the brain of healthy adult subjects who died from alcohol intoxication (in the period of ethanol resorption) and under conditions of alcohol abstinence (completion of the abstinence course). The purpose of the study was to elucidate factors responsible for the different degree of damage to the neurons of various identification groups (intact, hypochromic, picnomorphic, shadow) and macrogliocytes. The cells of all these types were counted at an area of 0.25 sq. mm within 4 squares each having a side of 250 mcm in length. The absolute and relative number of neurons in each group as well as the number of polyneuronal satellite cells per one intact neuron was determined. It was shown that alcohol intoxication is associated with acute swelling of and severe damage to brain neurons caused by the combination of such factors as toxic effect of ethanol, excessive production of catecholamines, and functional overstrain of dopaminergic neurons. The severity of acute alcohol damage to the neurons decreased with the distance from the mid-brain dopaminergic nuclei. Restoration of neurons during alcohol abstinence was due to compensatory activation of interactions between neurons and glial cells. It decreased in the sequence from the paranigral nucleus of the ventral portion of mesencephalic tegumentum to the medial portion of the accumbence nucleus (field 24b, layer III of field la, layer V of field 1) depending on the initial severity of acute damage in the brain region being examined. The severity of damage to the neurons of the mesocorticolimbic dopaminergic system under conditions of chronic alcohol intoxication estimated from the number of shadow neurons was similar to the degree of acute swelling associated with ethanol poisoning and decreases from a maximum in the nuclei of the mesocorticolimbic dopaminergic system to a minimum in layer III of field 1.