Citation

Rodríguez-Rabassa M, Lopez P, Sánchez R, Hernández C, Rodríguez C, Rodríguez-Santiago RE, Orengo JC, Green V, Yamamura Y, Rivera-Amill V. Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2020; 17(3): e689.

Affiliation

Center for Research Resources, Ponce Health Sciences University-Ponce Research Institute, Ponce, PR 00716-2348, USA.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2020, MDPI: Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute)

DOI

10.3390/ijerph17030689

PMID

31973090

Abstract

Alcohol-related disorders (ARD) are highly prevalent among Latin American-Caribbean countries. Mental disorders are common comorbidities in individuals with ARD. However, the etiology of the association between ARD and mental disorders remains unclear. We examined the association of inflammatory cytokines, microbiome, and other biomakers with measures of depression, social anxiety, and executive functions. We observed a significant increase in cytokine and chemokine expression levels in saliva and plasma in the alcohol group (AG) samples. Also, the salivary bacterial composition in the AG revealed an abundance of Prevotella. Depression symptomatology was markedly higher in the AG, but social anxiety levels were negligible. AG also exhibited executive dysfunctions, which negatively correlated with increased plasma levels of pro-inflammatory cytokines and increased salivary concentrations of Prevotella bacteria. Our study suggests that chronic alcohol use correlates with executive dysfunction, immune system dysregulation, and dysbiosis of the salivary microbiota. Additional studies are needed to understand the role of the microbiome and inflammation in alcohol use and mental comorbidities.

Language: en

Keywords

alcohol; cytokines; depression; executive dysfunction; microbiome