In particular, prefrontal and temporal callosal fiber bundle integrity predicted psychomotor speed in a working memory task but not the ability to balance on one foot with eyes closed, and parietal fiber bundle integrity selectively predicted balance performance but not psychomotor speed.69 Chanraud et al67 used DTI to investigate the effects of chronic alcoholism on mesencephalic fibers connecting the midbrain to the Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical thalamus and the

midbrain to the pons in 20 alcoholic and 24 control men. Alcoholics had fewer fibers than controls for midbrain-pons bundles but not for midbrain-thalamus bundles. The midbrainpons fiber deficit in alcoholics was predictive of poorer cognitive flexibility. This relation is consistent with the idea that cognitive functions Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical and abilities are both mediated and constrained by the anatomical characteristics of the underlying white matter tracts interconnecting gray matter nodes of complex cortico-subcortical circuits,73 and that disruption of selective (eg, mesencephalic) fiber bundles impairs cognition, such as mental flexibility. Among the fiber tracts showing Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical alcoholism-related microstructural IKK inhibitor compromise are the fornix and the cingulum,27 two major

fiber tracts of the limbic system. The fornix connects the hippocampus with hypothalamic regions including the mammillary bodies, and is involved in memory Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical formation.74-76 The

cingulate bundle of the limbic system has long and short fibers that surround the corpus callosum and course along cingulate cortex and parahippocampal gyrus. The cingulate bundle connects orbitofrontal, dorsolateral prefrontal, and medial frontal cortices with parietal, temporal association, and medial temporal cortices including hippocampus and amygdala. The cingulum has been associated with several brain functions including pain and emotion,77 Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical cognitive and motor control,25 memory,78 and spatial orientation.79,80 Whether the degradation of fornix and cingulate fibers connecting cortico-limbic-striatal nodes of emotion and reward circuits is directly and selectively related to deficits in component processes of emotional regulation, cognitive control, reward learning, and the urge to drink in alcoholism remains these to be investigated. Neuroimaging studies in alcoholism are beginning to link craving and binge drinking to cortico-limbic structural and functional integrity.81-85 Conclusion recent advance of neuroimaging techniques such as DTI and fMRI have provided the opportunity to study structural and functional compromise of brain networks in chronic alcoholism. These studies provide clear evidence for brain-behavior relationships that support the role of alcoholism-related white matter fiber degradation as a substrate of cognitive and motor impairment.