Numerous studies have demonstrated white matter dysfunction in alcoholics (Shear et al. 1994; Pfefferbaum et al. 2000; Harper et al. 2003), as well as in rodent models of alcohol use disorders (Pons-Vazquez et al. 2011) (see Table III). At the molecular level, microarray studies revealed altered oligodendrocyte/myelin gene expression in heavy drinkers (Lewohl et al. 2000; Mayfield et al. 2002; Liu et al. 2004). Specifically, alcohol decreases the expression of peroxisome proliferator activated receptor-beta, a transcription factor important for lipid metabolism, in oligodendrocyte-like B12 cells (Leisewitz et al. 2003). Molecular dysfunction is also seen in animal models; in rodents, chronic exposure to alcohol decreases oligodendrocyte myelin glycoprotein mRNA in the hippocampus (Okamoto et al. 2006).
