[C-11]PiB PET Imaging in Alcohol Use Disorders

There is a long-established relationship between alcohol use disorders (AUD), cognitive impairments, and the development of dementia. Some, but not all basic data suggest that alcohol abuse can alter the expression of amyloid precursor protein, and the enzymes that process it. Thus, there is a need for in vivo PET studies to further investigate the relationship between AUD and AD and the mechanism through which alcohol abuse exerts its effect on this type of dementia. Here, we propose to use the amyloid Beta (ABeta) radiotracer carbon-11 labeled Pittsburgh Compound-B (\[C-11\]PiB) and PET (Klunk et al., 2004) to determine whether AUD increase the risk to be brain ABeta+ in middle aged adults.