{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2025,10,11]],"date-time":"2025-10-11T02:26:50Z","timestamp":1760149610541,"version":"build-2065373602"},"reference-count":35,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"17","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2023,8,31]],"date-time":"2023-08-31T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1693440000000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["IJMS"],"abstract":"<jats:p>In many parts of the world, ethanol is a widely consumed substance that displays its effect in the brain, the target organ for desired, but also negative impact. In a previous study, the ethanol concentrations were analyzed in different regions of the brain by magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS). In this study, the same method is used to demonstrate the kinetics of the ethanol concentration in the human brain after oral ethanol uptake. A drinking study was performed with 10 healthy participants. After the uptake of ethanol in a calculated amount leading to a plasma ethanol concentration of 0.92 g\/L (19.95 mM corresponding to a blood ethanol concentration of 0.7 g\/kg), brain ethanol concentrations were continuously measured by means of MRS on a 3 Tesla human magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) system. For the data acquisition a single-voxel sLASER sequence was used, with the volume of interest located in the occipital cortex. Intermittently, blood samples were taken and plasma was analyzed for ethanol using headspace gas chromatography with flame ionization detection (HS-GC-FID). The obtained MRS brain ethanol curves showed distinct inter-individual differences; however, a good intra-individual correlation of plasma and brain ethanol concentrations was observed. The results suggest a rapid equilibration between blood and brain. The ethanol concentrations measured in the brain were substantially lower than the measured plasma ethanol results, suggesting an MRS visibility of about 63% for ethanol in brain tissue. The maximum individual ethanol concentrations in the brain (normalized to water content) ranged between 7.1 and 14.1 mM across the cohort, while the highest measured plasma concentrations were in the range between 0.35 g\/L (9.41 mM) and 0.95 g\/L (20.52 mM).<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/ijms241713499","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2023,8,31]],"date-time":"2023-08-31T09:14:41Z","timestamp":1693473281000},"page":"13499","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":1,"title":["Ethanol Kinetics in the Human Brain Determined by Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"24","author":[{"given":"Annette","family":"Thierauf-Emberger","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Institute of Forensic Medicine, Medical Center\u2014University of Freiburg, Faculty of Medicine, University of Freiburg, 79104 Freiburg, Germany"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-4909-5744","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Dominik","family":"Schuldis","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Institute of Forensic Medicine, Medical Center\u2014University of Freiburg, Faculty of Medicine, University of Freiburg, 79104 Freiburg, Germany"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Michael","family":"Dacko","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Division of Medical Physics, Department of Diagnostic and Interventional Radiology, Medical Center\u2014University of Freiburg, Faculty of Medicine, University of Freiburg, 79106 Freiburg, Germany"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-7467-8143","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Thomas","family":"Lange","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Division of Medical Physics, Department of Diagnostic and Interventional Radiology, Medical Center\u2014University of Freiburg, Faculty of Medicine, University of Freiburg, 79106 Freiburg, Germany"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2023,8,31]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","first-page":"379","article-title":"Alkohologie","volume":"Volume 2","author":"Madea","year":"2003","journal-title":"Handbuch Gerichtliche Medizin"},{"key":"ref_2","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1223","DOI":"10.1016\/j.neuron.2017.10.032","article-title":"Alcohol and the Brain: Neuronal Molecular Targets, Synapses, and Circuits","volume":"96","author":"Abrahao","year":"2017","journal-title":"Neuron"},{"key":"ref_3","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"85","DOI":"10.1016\/j.neuropharm.2017.01.013","article-title":"Synaptic targets: Chronic Alcohol Actions","volume":"122","author":"Roberto","year":"2017","journal-title":"Neuropharmacology"},{"key":"ref_4","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"487","DOI":"10.1093\/alcalc\/agz062","article-title":"Cerebral Metabolites on the Descending Limb of Acute Alcohol: A Preliminary 1H MRS Study","volume":"54","author":"Monnig","year":"2019","journal-title":"Alcohol Alcohol."},{"key":"ref_5","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"503","DOI":"10.1007\/s10334-015-0486-3","article-title":"Recreational alcohol use induces changes in the concentrations of choline-containing compounds and total creatine in the brain: A 1H MRS study of healthy subjects","volume":"28","author":"Ende","year":"2015","journal-title":"Magn. 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