Animal models of alcohol-induced dementia

Abstract

Alcoholic dementia is a disorder characterized by multiple cognitive deficits that include memory impairment associated with one or more cognitive disturbances listed in the present text. First, we characterize the disorder and describe aspects of using nonhuman models for studying specific and particular patterns of behavioral failures and biological dysfunctions found in cases of chronic alcohol consumption. Some kinds of animal models are depicted. Although there is no experimental model that displays all aspects considered as criteria for the diagnosis of alcoholic dementia, an animal model that is considered to be the most satisfactory to study behavioral and neurobiological aspects of this disease is that in which both high/chronic ethanol exposure and thiamine deficiency variables could be controlled. In this chapter, we show that animal models that manipulate only a single recognized etiological factor are less effective to elucidate the multiple influences that lead to alcoholic dementia. We conclude that even considering that only particular aspects of this disease could be approached using experimental animals; these studies can shed light on the biological processes, causing specific and particular patterns of cognitive failure. © 2011 Springer Science+Business Media, LLC.