following a prolonged period of abstinence.59 Subcortical regions of brains from patients with uncomplicated alcoholism exhibit neuronal loss in the supraoptic and para ventricular nuclei of the hypothalamus that shows a positive correlation with maximum daily alcohol consumption.60 With respect to the cerebellum, pathological studies do not consistently show a decrease in the number of neurons in cases of ARBD compared with normal controls, suggesting that chronic alcohol consumption per se does not necessarily cause neuronal death in this region of the brain. No changes have been documented in the number of neurons in the basal ganglia,61 hippocampus57,62 or serotonergic raphe nuclei63 in ARBD.
