It is well known that ethanol significantly affects cellular metabolism. This has primarily been studied in liver; however, evidence supports a direct influence of ethanol on brain metabolism. Brain imaging studies have shown that acute ethanol administration transiently reduces the metabolic rate of glucose utilization, and chronic excessive alcohol intake leads to longer-lasting decreases in glucose metabolism (Volkow et al., 2017, Volkow et al., 2015). Even at low doses, with minimal behavioral effects, there is a significantly decreased baseline of brain glucose metabolism in response to ethanol (Volkow et al., 2006). Parallel to changes in glucose utilization, studies on laboratory animals and in cultured cells report reductions in ATP levels for a variety of ethanol treatment protocols including acute, chronic and binge paradigms (Simon and Molina, 2022). This supports our hypothesis that ethanol consumption leads to changes in neuronal metabolism, which in turn can affect brain function, including excitability, serving as a generalized regulator.
