2004; Laakso et al. 2000; Sullivan et al. 1995; Wilhelm et al. 2008). Hippocampal volume deficits in alcoholism are influenced by age (Sullivan et al. 1995), even though age-related decline is difficult to detect in cross-sectional studies (Pfefferbaum et al. 2013; Raz et al. 2010; Sullivan et al. 2005b). Although deficits in hippocampal volume are not related to seizure incidence (Bleich et al. 2003; Sullivan et al. 1996), temporal-lobe white matter may be sensitive to alcohol-withdrawal seizures (Sullivan et al. 1996). Hippocampal volume shrinkage in alcoholism is attributed to loss of white matter and decreased axonal diameter (Harding et al. 1997). Glial cell loss (Korbo 1999) or reduced incorporation of newly formed neurons to the dentate gyrus (He et al. 2005; Nixon and Crews 2004), however, could also affect hippocampal volume in alcoholism.
